The December Grifter
by Cassadee Willows
Summary: Late at night, as the snow covers a small Colorado town, the life of a team member hangs in the balance. When a mysterious girl steps in and changes fate, the team starts to rethink everything they thought they knew about life.
1. Chapter 1

Hello everyone! For those of you who celebrate, Merry Christmas! For those of you who don't, Merry-Just-Another-Day-Only-No-Stores-Are-Open-So-You-Can't-Get-Anything-Done. I've been working on a little something special for the holidays, but I'm hoping this can still be enjoyed by those who don't celebrate it. The plan is for this to be a three night event. The first post being tonight, of course, Christmas Eve. The next should show up tomorrow, depending on what time the relatives scatter, and the last installment will show up on the 26th. If I don't post tomorrow, I promise it's only because everyone gathered and no one went home early. If that's the case, it will show up on the 26th. Thank you for reading, and have a safe holiday / Saturday.

**Chapter 1**

**The Grifter**

Melinda walked through her small Colorado town, coming up on the Christmas tree that served as a doughboy in town center. The lampposts above her were adorned in christmas lights, and the whole town lit up for this time of the year. It was sacred here, which was also why the streets were dead. It was Christmas Eve and people around here took that seriously. Plus, it was only three degrees out, so that could have something to do with it, too.

Melinda liked the cold, though, and the two feet of snow only added to the nostalgia. It made her feel at home, reminding her of the best and worst days of her life growing up, but her past is what made her who she was. Sometimes she had to go back and metaphorically walk through it to remember how lucky she was now. The colder the night, the better the time for that, so bundled in her long red jacket, she took a turn into the park directly across from the town tree, heading for her secret place; the place she went to think and remember.

In a town this small, rarely did anyone go off of the beaten park paths, which meant they never had a chance to find her place. It was just these two pine trees, but the way they twisted together allowed for a warm space to form beneath them, a shelter of its own kind, and bared a reminder of where she had been. It was just a few minutes walk from the town Christmas tree, and she swore, if she looked hard enough, she could just see the lights from it through those two trees.

As Melinda made her way through the thickened tree line, she was completely unaware that the FBI was just on the other side of the clearing from her, attempting to move as quietly as possible, ready to go after anything that moved through the trees.

"Hotch, I want to find Reid as much as you do, but we have to be realistic about this. He's been gone for almost eight hours. His jacket, gloves and scarf were left behind. The police left the investigation an hour ago due to the cold, and I think we should do the same. It's too cold for us to safely be out here any longer and, let's be honest, we're probably looking for a corpse. I think we should go back and resume this in the morning before anything happens to the rest of us." Morgan spoke quietly, not wanting to spook the unsub, if he was around. At this point, they were on a wild goose chase and taking a lot of guesses. Being profilers and knowing this unsub, they all knew the chances of Reid being alive were almost none, especially in this cold. As much it killed Morgan to say what he just said, he was a professional first.

"I'm not leaving until we find Reid. We don't leave agents in the field. If you would like to leave the investigation, then leave. If anyone else wants to go with him, I'll expect your resignations on my desk first thing Monday morning." Hotch spoke in his harsh tone, angry and not thinking about anything but finding Reid. He had done the one thing that agents, especially team leaders, were trained specifically not to do; he made things personal. He stopped thinking logically, and could only think about what Reid meant to him, and about the things he'd never say. This was his way of showing he cared.

"Whoa, Hotch, come on. You know me. There's is no one in this world, aside from his mom, that is closer to Reid than me. The last thing I want to do is leave him out here, alive or not. Like you said, we don't leave agents behind. But Reid also wouldn't want us to kill ourselves to find him, and that's what's going to happen if we stay out in this cold any longer. I haven't been able to feel my feet for the last two hours. Don't tell me you can feel yours." Morgan fought back, trying not to let his emotions get the best of him. He couldn't begin to imagine the things he would do to the unsub once they found him and Reid. Forget leaving Reid out there all night, knowing that if he wasn't dead now, he would be by morning. The blame he'd put on himself would be far worse than anything he could do to the unsub.

"I lost feeling in my hands three hours ago. I couldn't properly shoot my weapon if I needed to. Hotch, I hate to say this, but Morgan is right. If this was anyone but Reid, we would have left with the police. We've been out here for nearly six straight hours. We need to get out of the cold." Rossi stepped in, trying to talk sense into Hotch, but his face was unchanged. "Aaron, think about Jack."

"I am, and I'm thinking that if it were my son out there, how I'd want a better excuse for leaving him unfound overnight than 'we got cold." Rossi pulled back from Hotch, turning to Morgan and shaking his head. There was nothing more he could do. Hotch had made up his mind. "Prentiss, do you have anything to say about this?"

"No, Sir." She shook her head, not wanting to get involved. Although, for the record, she agreed with Morgan and Rossi.

"All right, then we split up. Dave and Prentiss, you guys go to that way, Morgan and I will go this way." The teams did as they were told, three not agreeing with their direct orders. If they would have known how close they finally were to Reid, they would have changed their minds about the entire thing.

Just through the clearing, a dozen or so yards from where Melinda was headed to her secret place, the unsub pulled Reid from beneath the haven of the two twisted trees, a rifle to his back. Reid was cold, hypothermia trying to set in, while his body worked to fight it off. Had it not been for the cover of the trees, he was sure he would be in full set hypothermia by now. Still, it took him a few tries to get to his feet, his legs too cold to function properly; too weak.

This only upset the unsub. He had never had anyone fight back, and although that wasn't what Reid was trying to do, his legs were betraying him. Reid knew from profiling this unsub that he was prone to outbursts when met with resistance, or when he didn't get his own way. Reid knew he was in trouble, that the unsub's mental state was deteriorating quickly, and that he had reached his peak of de-evolution. He was going to die, because no one was there to help him. Anything he said would only get him killed quicker, so he kept quiet, trying to find any last minute harebrained idea to get him out of this. It was his only chance.

"Do you have any last words?" Reid shook his head, afraid any word out of his mouth would get him shot before he finished it. He had seconds left. "Good. I like 'em quiet. Now say goodbye."

Reid swallowed hard and closed his eyes. He waited for the gunshot. It didn't come, at least not at first. What he heard instead was the sound of footsteps, like someone was running. Then there were a few other noises, ones he couldn't make out or recognize. He opened his eyes slowly, just in time to hear the gun go off. Immediately, he stopped breathing, if only out of instinct as to what had happened. It took him a few minutes to recover and realize that he wasn't shot. In fact, there wasn't a gun to his back at all anymore. He was still in the process of trying to make heads or tails out of what just happened, when a voice broke in.

"Are you okay?" From behind him came a women in a long red jacket. Her face was pale, soft and beautiful, and her voice was that of an angel. Maybe he had died after all. "Hey, are you okay?" Then she shook him lightly and he felt it, and he knew for sure he was still alive."

"If I'm alive, then I think so. What...happened?" Just beginning to get his bearings, Reid started to move, turning around to where the unsub was once at his back. Now he was on the ground, laid out flat, and the gun was a few yards from him, like it had been thrown.

"I happen to know a thing or two about kicking some ass." Reid turned his head from the unsub, to the girl. A women that small taking down a guy that large didn't add up for him, but he wasn't going to question it. Not out loud, at least.

"Are you crazy? You could have been killed." He wanted to be thankful, but it was mouth over matter in this case. He couldn't believe anyone would do what she must have just done. Who would run into a situation where someone had a rifle held to another's back, risking their own life, unless it was their job and they had to?

"Probably, and you don't think about those kinds of things when you have no one to miss you. You have people who would have missed you, and that's what mattered." There wasn't much that Melinda had in life. She lived day by day, and when she saw a person or a situation that needed her, she ran, not walked, into it without a thought to her own life. She knew that, for most people, there were others who relied on them, who would have a body to bury. In her life, it was just her. She saw the bigger picture in that.

"How do you know that?" Melinda motioned her head to right where Morgan and Hotch had just arrived, pausing for a moment to survey the situation and figure out what was going on. They didn't recognize Melinda, and they didn't know if she was okay to approach.

"Do you have any handcuffs?" Reid had just looked up to Morgan and Hotch, trying to let them know that it was okay to come to him. He knew why they were hesitant.

"What? Why?" It took him a minute to catch up to her, as he was too busy signaling his team.

"Because I didn't knock him out all that hard. He's probably going to start moving any second." Reid shook his head, but Morgan and Hotch hadn't moved. Instead, Hotch was speaking to Rossi and Prentiss via the communication device on his cuff, giving them instructions to come from behind and approach the situation gently.

"He took them." It was then that it registered with Reid that there was no reason for her to ask him that. He was in work clothing, but it looked like civilian clothing to everyone else. His brain immediately started to profile her, wondering if he should be worried about the mysterious stranger, too. Maybe her saving him was all a rouse. "I'm sorry, but why would you think I would have handcuffs?"

"I can spot a cop from a mile away, although you were a little trickier, because you're not what I think of when I think of a cop." She moved from where she was standing, spotting Prentiss and Rossi attempting to sneak through the trees. She ignored it for a minute, just long enough to pick up the gun. "Here, just in case he tries to get up before your friends get here. It's time for me to go."

Reid wanted to call after her, to thank her and ask her the million questions that were stirring in his mind, but before he had a chance, he was surrounded by Rossi and secured by Prentiss. She used her device to call to Hotch and Morgan, who were looking on. Reid was safe. They could come to him now.

"Reid, are you okay? Did she try to hurt you?" Rossi's attention turned on Reid, questioning him about the young girl, as he finished cuffing the unsub.

"No, she saved my life." He said it loud, hoping that Hotch and Morgan wouldn't approach her with force, although he knew at least one of them was going to go to her to question her. She was out of place in the situation, and as Morgan approached Reid, afraid he may break into a hug and relieved, Hotch went after her.

"Miss! Excuse me, Miss! This is a federal investigation and I'm going to need to speak with you. I'm with the FBI." Something about the way the girl calmly walked away told Hotch that she wasn't involved in this. They also hadn't profiled the unsub to have a partner. He called after her, giving her a chance to show her true colors, but he made sure that he was close enough to her before he did call out, in case she did try to run.

"I didn't do anything. I saw someone who was going to be shot and I stepped in. That's all I know." She turned to face to Hotch to give him an honest answer, and then turned to walk away. She didn't want a big deal made out of this. She just wanted to go on her way.

"What are you doing out here in this kind of cold, this late at night?" Melinda whipped back around as Hotch approached her, standing close enough to grab her arm if she tried to move again, which is exactly what she knew he'd do. She'd had her share of experience with police.

"I happen to like the cold. I was going to my secret place to think, which just happened to be where your agent was almost killed at." This was now a place she couldn't go back to. It was tainted, and it wasn't her place anymore.

"What's your name?" Hotch had an odd feeling about her, but he doubted she was dangerous. Still, what she said and didn't say would tell him that, and being as she was now part of this case, he had to interview her.

"Melinda. Yours?" She answered simply, strongly.

"I'm FBI Agent Aaron Hotchner." He wanted her to know he was from the FBI, to reiterate it, hoping to intimidate her into telling him the truth. "Melinda what?" Hotch's frightening demeanor made her uncomfortable, but he didn't waver, although he had realized that. He wasn't going to break in fear of losing his unspoken hold on her.

"Melinda. Just Melinda." He looked at her sternly. He was questioning her innocence and she knew this. She wanted to be forthcoming enough to let him know there was nothing to question. "I grew up in the system. I was left in the hospital at three days old. My mother gave a fake name; no one ever found her. The nurses gave me a first name, but didn't know my last name, and none of my social workers cared enough to give me one either. I was a number to them. They told me that when I got adopted I would find a last name."

"And you never got adopted?" One of the most important parts of an investigation was finding out who someone was before you could profile their involvement or lack thereof.

"I didn't give it a chance. I grew up in a state home and was sent to live with two separate families who were supposed to be interested in adopting me. I was so young, but I still remember knowing that the state home was better than life with these people. As soon as I got enough sense in my head, I disappeared." Melinda answered him, giving him no reason to doubt her. Besides, she was old enough now that there was nothing he could do. She couldn't be a ward of the state any longer.

"How did you know how to take down someone with a gun like that?" He was skeptical of her explanation. She had no training, like he had expected. She had to know what she was doing to diffuse the situation. Anything else would point away from her innocence.

"When you live on the streets you learn to protect yourself. Sometimes it's literally life or death." Her answer was sketchy, at least to Hotch. He pressed on, needing to know if he could clear her or not.

"Then how is it that you're still alive?" It seemed possible, but unlikely, that someone would learn to protect herself enough to survive the streets from a young age.

"Well, Mr. FBI Man, promise you won't arrest me?" His face didn't change, which, she didn't expect it to. "I was a grifter. I learned how to grift when I needed it, and stayed on the streets when I didn't. I didn't take money, though. I took a warm bed and meals, and I did a lot of lying, a lot of identity switching to make sure I didn't go back to being a ward of the state."

"You're not a stupid girl." He was surprised at what he was hearing, but no longer looking at her as a suspect. Hearing her story, she profiled as the type who knew a little bit about everything, and could make her way through anything.

"Did you expect me to be when you heard I lived on the streets?" She didn't take offense, but it was easy to know what she was thinking. Everyone else thought it.

"I'm a profiler. I spend my life figuring people out. Someone on the streets usually profiles as uneducated." Hotch was honest with her, not wanting her to be offended by what he said, but instead to understand it.

"I was educated. Well, in fact. Like I said, I learned to grift early. I went to school, I just lied about who I was and moved on when the lies started to unravel. I graduated cum laude." Melinda notated the look on Hotch's face. He was focused only on her, the wheels in his head turning. "You're profiling me now, aren't you?"

"It is my job. I'm going to need you to walk me through exactly what happened before I can let you go." She nodded, walking back towards the scene of the crime. She just wanted to get this over with. Although she could tell Hotch meant her no harm, police still made her uncomfortable after her years on the lam.

"There's not a lot to tell. I was walking this way like I am now, going to my secret place. I saw your agent with a gun to his back, and I just reacted. I knew the man with the gun he hadn't seen me, so I charged at him. It was the only thing I could think to do. I surprised him and knocked him clear over. He was too stunned to move at first, so I kicked him in his head and chest to make sure he stayed down, and then I picked up the gun and threw it as far from him as I could. That's when it discharged. Really, Mr. FBI Man, it was just luck." She talked as she walked, taking him through her earlier steps. He watched the ground, seeing that her footprints indicated she was running, and as they approached the scene of the crime, everything seemed to fit.

He had no reason to believe she was involved. She actually had done their job for them. Had she been guilty, she would have had the time and the gun to kill Reid with before they got to him. Instead, she handed him the gun to put to the unsub and simply walked away. And she was cooperating.

"It's Agent Hotchner, and I just have one more question for you, and then you're free to go." She looked at him, well aware that there were four other sets of eyes on her now, all wondering what was going on. "Although I can't condone your carelessness in deliberately involving yourself in a dangerous situation, we would all like to know how we can thank you for apprehending a criminal and saving an FBI agent's life."

"Just say thank you." She shrugged. It seemed to simple to her. "And like I told your agent over there, it's easy to get to involved when you have no one who will miss you. He clearly has all of you."

"Thank you. Is there anything we can do for you? Is there anything you need that we can help you with?" She shook her head. She had everything she needed, and that was good enough for her. She knew he was only asking because he assumed she was still homeless, still grifting.

"Can I go home now?" Since her secret place was ruined, and even she was starting to feel the windchill, she just wanted to enjoy Christmas away from drama and law enforcement. She didn't want a big life.

"Yes." She turned on her heel to walk, and Reid knew this was his last chance to stop her, to thank her and ask her what he wanted to ask her, but before he got a chance, he was interrupted again.

"Hotch, we need to get him to the hospital. He's close to hypothermia and he has some mild frostbite." Melinda was only steps away when she overheard this. It forced her to hesitate, debating if she should get involved or not, but at the end of the day she always did the right thing.

"The closest hospital is almost two hours away." She turned back to them, letting them know what they were in for. Most towns had a hospital, but this one was a little different.

"There isn't one in town?" Morgan was in the process of taking his jacket off to wrap around Reid, who was shivering violently. Everyone had been so worried about apprehending the suspect, chasing down the mysterious girl, and waiting for the police to come and take the unsub away, that Reid got mixed up in the mess and came last. Now they would have to wait for the police to come and get the unsub before they could get him into any kind of warmth.

"There's a clinic, but the doctor is away for Christmas. Things work a little differently in a town this small." Reid interjected, putting in his two cents about his own predicament.

"Guys, I'm fine. I don't need to go to the hospital, but I do need to get something to eat. In case you didn't know, kidnappers don't usually feed you." Reid was getting antsy standing there, needing a lot of things he wasn't able to get with them awaiting the police. He was trying to hurry things along, hoping at least someone would leave the scene to get him into the warmth. The last few minutes since he had been found were feeling like hours.

"You're not going to find anywhere to eat, either." The snow began to fall harder around them, the windchill picking up. She looked down at her watch as she spoke, seeing if the weathermen were right about the midnight snow.

"Why not? This town may be small, but it seems to have no shortage of bars. Bars usually serve food." For the first time in the history of weather predicting, they had been right on. She smiled, noting the picture perfect start to Christmas, in a less than perfect situation. It was the good she wanted to remember.

"But it's midnight. It's Christmas. This town takes Christmas very seriously. You won't find a business open until the 26th." You wouldn't find people wandering the streets either, or anything but the Christmas lights on the tree in town center, and the decorations adorning the streets, bringing life to the town. Welcome to small town America.

"Reid, I still think we need to get you to a hospital. We can worry about food once we're there." Morgan paused for a moment, unsure of how they were going to do that, and also wanting Reid out of the cold now. "Damn it! Where are the police?"

"How are we supposed to get him to the hospital? We weren't exactly provided with vehicles. The police said it wasn't in the budget. They said we could walk everywhere. They were wrong." Rossi broke in, playing on what Morgan already was wondering himself. He was frustrated at the situation, and a little angry. To try and calm the obvious anger and panic, Melinda walked toward Reid, stopping in front of him.

"You can walk everywhere here, which is why I don't own a car, but I still think I can help you. Let me see." Melinda started to inspect Reid, everything from his bare fingers where the frostbite was starting to form, to his earlobes that were much of the same, to the way he was acting. "We need to get him out of the cold right away, before he goes into hypothermia. Lucky for him, the frostbite isn't that bad. I can treat it and I can get some food into him."

"How do you know how to treat frostbite? With all due respect, he needs medical attention." Morgan was focused on the big picture, not what they had to work with here, whereas that's all Melinda could focus on. She knew she couldn't just leave these town strangers to their own devices.

"He also needs out of the cold. I grew up on the street, where there was a lot of frostbite and no money to pay for medical help. You learn." She started to walk away, not liking all the questioning she was receiving. It was always questions. No one ever trusted her. Just like now when no one was following, so she called after them, and decided not to stick around to see if they followed. "Come on, before he catches his death and you need more than a hospital."

"We can't leave him here." The him that was being referred to was the criminal, and there was hardly anything threatening about him. Prentiss and Rossi had been making sure he didn't escape the entire time Melinda had been talking to the whole team, and he had yet to move a muscle. Of course, when one woman wipes the floor with your ass, you're probably not going to defy another.

"We'll pass the police station on the way to my place. It's the only thing that is open on Christmas, so you can drop him off there. If you wait for the police show up here, he'll be in full fledged hypothermia. Don't get me wrong, they're good people, just slow. In their defense, they don't see a lot of crime here." This time, when Melinda turned around, she was going with or without the team. She had said all she could and the rest was up to them.

"Come on, Dirtbag. Let's go." By the sounds behind her, Melinda knew they were going to follow this time.

The snow continued to fall, adding to the feet already on the ground, the sky fogging over and covering the stars. And there they were, all in a line; the former homeless grifter leading the pack of five FBI agents, one who was a victim in a sick game that ran deeper than Melinda knew just yet, and a criminal in handcuffs. They looked as lost, weary, and out of place as Joseph and Mary on their trek to Bethlehem. Not everyone walking on this night was innocent, though, but through an act of fate, one had been saved. And that, in itself, was its own Christmas miracle.


	2. Chapter 2

_Merry Christmas everyone! I'm sorry this update is so late. It was a crazy day. I hope everyone enjoyed their families and got just what they wanted. Thank you to all of you who took the time to read this and add it to your story alerts. You own my heart. _

**Chapter 2**

**This Drama Sat Shotgun**

After dropping off the unsub at the police station, the unusual suspects made their way to Melinda's. She was just on the outskirts of town, the only building considered in town limits that wasn't attached to another and had its own parking lot. Her home was of the unusual kind, but it fit her life because nothing was usual about it. She led the team to her place, stopping at what looked like a roadside local dive bar. That's probably because that's what it pretty much was.

"I thought you said all the bars in town were closed." Morgan was barely in the mood for games at this time of the night, especially after what they had gone through today. One of the people he cared most about had been previously assumed for dead in his mind, and after seeing this was their only option with the hospital so far away, he was ready to skip all casualties.

"Not if you're the owner." Melinda played with her key in the lock, cursing it for sticking under her breath. She finally pulled the door ajar. "Come on in. It's the hottest country western bar in town, just not on Christmas."

"I didn't see another country western bar in town, and I have an eidetic memory, so I'd remember." Melinda chuckled to herself as she began turning on the lights. She was good at reading people and she had him pegged for an unintentional know it all.

"Shush. You're ruining the moment." As the door shut behind Morgan, the last agent in, and the place was illuminated, she turned to face everyone for the first time in pure light. "I don't believe we've all been properly introduced. I'm Melinda. _Just _Melinda."

"This is SSA Morgan, SSA Prentiss, SSA Rossi, and the one you saved is Dr. Reid." Agent Hotchner introduced the team, which was fitting considering he was the only one she was properly introduced to.

"You can call me Spencer." He held his hand up in a half wave, almost as if he were looking for attention from the teacher to talk. He made no effort to come toward her or shake her hand, but she chalked it up to his mild frostbite.

"And what does everyone else call you?" She noted the look of confusion on his face, so she began to clarify. "Normally, when someone says 'you can call me,' it implies that's not what people usually call them."

"Reid." She nodded, almost extending her hand by instinct, but quickly catching herself.

"Nice to officially meet you, Dr. Spencer Reid." Seeing as the situation was awkward, no one knowing what to do or say after they day they had, Emily sensed this with her womanly instincts and stepped forward, extending her hand to Melinda.

"You can call me Emily." Upon shaking hands, the older male agent stepped forward, placing his hand on her shoulder like a fatherly figure would do.

"And you can call me Dave. _Just _Dave." His last sentence was eerily similar to how she had introduced herself, but somehow it made her like _Just_ Dave.

"And how about you, Agent Morgan. What can I call you?" He stood there behind everyone else, still looking as stern and unamused as he had throughout this entire ordeal. Somehow, she thought this was Hotch's territory.

"Agent Morgan." There was no tone when he spoke, just pure deadpan. She knew it was because he wanted to be at a hospital; he was only trying to protect his friend, and he didn't trust her. She didn't blame him, but she was just trying to help.

"Ouch. You've killed me with your bitterness. Now my cat is homeless." Deep down, Melinda was one of the sweetest girls you'd ever want to meet, but when met with resistance she had a habit of becoming sarcastic, in an attempt to put her guard up.

"You'll have to excuse him. It's been a long day, and if it hadn't been for you, we would be dealing with a murder, instead of arresting the murderer." Hotch stepped in, diffusing the situation and verbally reprimanding Morgan without actually doing so, in one go. He was out of line. "You can call me Aaron, by the way."

"It's okay, Aaron, I don't have a cat. And Agent Morgan it is." Melinda walked over to the bar, avoiding the Christmas tree and the splash of decorations that made it seem as if the season had thrown up all over the place, which is just the way she liked it. "Now that we've been properly introduced, make yourselves at home. The thermostat is over on the wall to the right. Feel free to set it at whatever you want. There's glasses under the counter. The right tap is soda and tea, the left is beer. There's a coffee pot on the back counter over there, and there's other alcoholic beverages in the refrigerator in the back. The fridge is also filled with food, so feel free to help yourselves to whatever you want. The ovens are just basic grade ovens, so they're self explanatory. I'm going to take Spencer here and get him tended to. If you want to come with me, Spencer..."

Melinda pointed as she talked, making sure everyone had a map and the lay of the land. Once she was sure she had explained herself well enough, she placed her arm gently on Reid's shoulder. It was her way of asking him to trust her. He was still shaking, freezing.

"Where are you taking him to?" The still skeptical and worried Morgan piped in. It was so predictable that even Hotch was giving him "the look."

"There's an apartment attached to the back of the establishment, through the office. That's where I live. You're welcome to come if you would like. I'm just going to take him back there and thaw him out and see if he melts." She was testing him, seeing what he would do. He started to get out of his chair, but Hotch asserted himself in a way that would otherwise seem non-existent, only they were profilers. One look or one little movement told an entire story.

"It's okay. I think I'll just get a drink, if that's all right with you." He still rose from his chair, possibly as to not make it look as if he was just scolded by his boss. That was part of it, but he was also trying to get closer to Melinda to get a better feel for her, and she knew that.

"Like I said, help yourselves. It's on the house." She looked at Morgan during the last sentence, hoping he would drop at least some of his suspicions. She was sincere, but she new he wouldn't care about that until he was sure his friend was safe.

"So you really own this place?" Morgan walked around the counter, grabbing a glass and going for the state of the art beer tap, but not before questioning her once more. "How does a girl who claims she came from the streets end up with a bar?"

"This place saved my life. No one would give some homeless girl off the streets a job, but then Jolene, the original owner here, did. She believed in me. I worked and she let me live in the apartment out back, and I got all the free food I wanted. Like I told Aaron, I'm a grifter, but I don't grift for money. And she was different. She didn't do this because she wanted to look good by helping some homeless kid. She did it because she cared and we were friends. When she died a couple of months ago I found out she left everything she had to me. _She _saved my life by doing so, and made sure I would be okay in life after her death. I know it doesn't look like it, but this place pulls a six figure income." She gave more information than she had to, just like she had done earlier when talking to Hotch back at the crime scene. In her experience, the more personal things you said, the more someone tended to believe your sincerity. She didn't know why, and she didn't care, because her life was an open book. She had no one to hide from, and no one who cared enough about her to use what she told them to hurt her.

"You barely look old enough to be serving alcoholic drinks." Hotch observed Melinda; he couldn't stop. Part of his heart broke for her, although he'd never show it, while the other wondered how she got to be so strong. He was sold on her being exactly what she said she was, but just as he wanted to figure out why a serial killer killed, he wanted to figure out why she was tough against the world, but okay with what she had been through.

"Don't worry, Mr. FBI Man, I'm 23. I started here at sixteen, but I promise I didn't serve alcoholic drinks until I was twenty one, just food and the non alcoholic stuff. Jolene did things up right." For her own sake, Melinda just felt better referring to Hotch as Mr. FBI Man. If she did that, there was no way she could get attached to him. For some reason, he stood out as that fatherly figure she so desperately wanted, and reminded her of the one home she had been in where the man was kind, but the wife was not.

"This seems trivial, but I'm going to have to see some ID. I'm sorry." Melinda chuckled, not offended in the least. Even if it was for legal reasons, she was glad someone cared enough to ask.

"It's fine. You're a federal agent. I get it." She paused for a moment, walking around the counter near Morgan, and then getting in the drawer and pulling out a pen and paper. "189-77-4328." She sat the paper in front of Hotch. He looked up at her, about to ask what the numbers were, when Reid interjected.

"It's her social security number." He sounded more mystified than finite that she willingly gave that out without a second thought, but she just nodded.

"I may not have a driver's license, and I may not have a last name or carry an ID, but I do have a social security number. There's a computer in the back office, just through the kitchen. You can look me up. I'll check out." She grabbed across the counter for Reid, motioning him to come around. "Now, I'm going to take Spencer here to get warmed up and treat that frostbite. If you need me, we'll be right through the back of the office. I promise I'll take good care of him. I'll even return him in better shape than I got him in."

Just as Melinda normally did, she started walking, assuming the person would just follow. Reid did, but barely. He was cold, weak, hungry, but most of all he was in pain and having trouble walking. It took Melinda until he came through the door to realize, but once he did, she took a step back, falling in line next to him.

"Are you okay? If you need to go to the hospital I'll find a way to get you there. If not, put your arm around me and I'll help you to the back." She gave him time to make up his mind, and his arm fell around her shoulder. She was strong enough to bear the weight he was giving her. It took a little struggling, but they made it into her apartment.

"I know the place is small, and I'm sorry that's it's not cleaned up, but you can make yourself at home wherever." She lifted his arm from her, allowing him to make his own decision about what he wanted to do. She didn't know how badly he was hurting, or if he was okay to sit down or would rather not risk trying to get back up. He took a seat on her couch. She kneeled down in front of him, inspecting his frostbite more closely now. "I'm going to need to get a good look at your frostbite in order to know what I'm treating. What hurts the worst?"

"My hands, feet and earlobes. Other than that, I'm actually okay. I think it's because I was being kept under those intertwining trees. It's incomprehensibly warm under there, just not for your hands and feet." Before inspecting his frostbite, Melinda got up and pulled the afghan off her chair, throwing it over Reid's shoulders. Then, she cranked the separate apartment thermostat up to eighty just to try and warm him up.

"Tell me about it. That's my secret place to go and think. I know it's none of my business, but how are you doing with everything that's happened? I feel like no one's paid much attention to you in light of the spectacle I made. I'm sorry for that." While she spoke, she worked to take a good look at his frostbite, going over his hands and earlobes first.

"Don't be sorry. I'm doing surprisingly well. This isn't the first time I've been kidnapped." Melinda didn't stop looking up in her shock. She knew he needed attention, and because of her, he wasn't getting it. Everyone was so wrapped up in what she did, which was probably why Morgan was so cold to her.

"No kidding. So this happens a lot to FBI agents?" Feeling confident about her diagnosis on his hands and earlobes, she bent down further, taking off his shoes for him to get a look at his feet.

"No, just to me." She didn't even know what to say to that, but she now knew what kind of frostbite she was dealing with.

"Well, the good news is that your frostbite looks superficial. It's easily treatable with soaking it in warm water, then I'll put aloe vera on it and wrap up the worst parts. As long as you keep those places warm, you won't need to go to the hospital." He was very lucky. Even being under that tree, things could have been a lot worse for him. Someone was watching over him this holiday season.

"You said you learned all of this on the street?" Melinda nodded.

"It's cold out there. You make due." Just like everything else, she shrugged it off, not wanting to talk about how she knew what she knew, or be treated like some hero. She just wanted to get him fixed up, fed, and on his way again as good as new.

"But how did you get aloe vera on the streets?" Questions like this were common when people found out about Melinda's past. They were especially common when people realized she knew a little bit about a lot of things, and wasn't undereducated, nor dumb.

"The only way we knew how. Spencer, I wasn't a thief unless I had to be, and I only had to be if it was life or death. That's why I grifted. Like I said before, I didn't take money. I grifted for food and shelter only. I know that probably doesn't seem much like grifting to you, but I only got those things by being dishonest with people, and on the streets food and shelter were as good as cash."No matter how many times she tried to explain it, she still felt like she was convincing herself of it. She knew that she hadn't harmed anyone, or conned anyone out of anything they didn't have, but she still felt bad doing it in the first place.

"Can I ask you another question?" She smirked. If there was two things she learned about the FBI tonight, it was that one team member always had the misfortune of getting kidnapped more than once, usually the scrawny one that looked more like a teacher than a threat, and that they liked to ask a lot of personal questions.

"Your whole team can better than anyone I know. Keep talking, though. I'm going to go and get you some clothes." Melinda turned to walk to her room, which was only a few paces to the door. She knew it wouldn't interrupt their conversation.

"Sorry. Maybe I should have said 'may I ask you a question?" She was so close to the living room in the little apartment that, not only did neither of them have to raise their voice to talk, but she thought a nod would suffice as an answer. It took her a moment to realize that, although in most houses she would only be across the room, in this one there was a wall there.

"My answer to that is the same." She sorted through her drawers, but didn't get an answer. He obviously didn't share her sense of humor and sarcasm, so she gave him the green light. "Go ahead."

"If this place pulls in six figures, why are you living here. No offense, but I've seen storage sheds that are bigger. Didn't you say that Jolene left everything to you? There's no way she could have lived here, too." Finding what she was looking for, she came back out from the bedroom, now with questions of her own. She normally never bothered to ask questions, because that indicated she cared enough about someone to want to get to know them; someone who would leave, but this wasn't a question about him, it was a question for her.

"That's two questions, but I guess I'll answer them with another question. I'm not big on them, but I think fair is fair. That man I tackled, was he the one killing people around here?" Her voice went from tough, street chic girl, to small and quiet. Her eyes changed, tearing up a little bit, a hint of desperation in her movements and behavior.

"Yes. He's the reason we're here." She handed him his clothes, feeling like the wind had been knocked out of her and they suddenly weighed a ton of bricks.

"It's about time the Sheriff swallowed his pride and called someone. That man...no, a man wouldn't do that. That _monster _killed Jolene. She was his first victim. When she didn't come into the bar I knew something was wrong. I went to her house and found her shot on the couch. I own that house, but I can never go back in there. She was the only friend I had, and I can't relive that." She took a seat next to him, trying to catch her breath again. She didn't like talking about this for a lot of reasons.

"Surely she's not your only friend. I know I don't know you very well, but I'm a profiler, and I do know the kind of person you have to be to selflessly charge at someone with a gun to save the life of someone you've never met. People spend their whole lives looking for someone like you, and most never find them." She couldn't imagine what it would be like to be Reid, young and naive, knowing people had his back and understanding the way life should work. She didn't even try to understand that. She knew better. Fair tales were just that, tales.

"These people here, they look at me like some money sucking gold digger. They were never keen on me to begin with, but when they found out Jolene left everything to me, the damn Sheriff started investigating me. A few weeks later a man across town was killed, a man I didn't even know. The Sheriff left me alone, but nobody else did. The only reason those people still come into this bar is because it has the best damn food in town, and because it was Jolene's. Everyone loved her, and it's just their way of honoring her memory and showing her respect in death. So yeah, she was it." Her eyes faded out and away from Reid. How did her night turn out like this? How did his turn out this way? What does it take for two star crossed paths to cross like this, and on Christmas yet?

"I'm sorry you went through that. What's important is the guy is in jail, and it's because of you. Jolene would be proud." She could hear Jolene's voice in her head now, which warranted an unsuspected laugh.

"Nah, she'd just tell me it was about damn time I jumped a guy." Reid looked at her in disbelief, not sure how to respond. "No, I'm serious, that's what she would have told me. And you need to stop being so dramatic about this whole me saving your life and capturing the bad guy thing."

It wasn't that Melinda didn't know what she did. She just didn't want to develop feelings of grandeur, because once she did, she knew she'd be knocked further down than she had been before. She didn't think there was anything past rock bottom, or a big deal within what she had done.

"I don't think I'm being dramatic, but it worries me that you do. It's not healthy to not realize your own accomplishments. You know, I have a degree in psychology, so I would know that you probably just need to talk to a professional about this. Normally I wouldn't say this, but given your past I think it's important that you realize you're not that girl on the streets anymore and you're capable of more than that, or you could actually end up causing yourself emotional catastrophe. There's a lot to be said for someone who doesn't have enough self worth to accept something good they've done, but they are first to jump to heavily explain the bad." Out of all the people she had met on the street, she hadn't met anyone who actually wanted to help her emotionally. He was either extremely nice, or there was something seriously wrong with him.

"All this because pure dumb luck saved your life tonight? Shouldn't this be the other way around? I'm fine, really. Talking to someone is not what I need. I just need time." This threw Reid off. He thought he was doing a good thing by offering to be her sounding board. As broken as she seemed, though, she said that to him like she had it all together and all figured out. He was starting to rethink his profile on her already. For now, she was unclassified.

"Time for what? What's time going to do?" Time did nothing but exist on its own. It didn't interfere with life, nor did it have the ability to interact. His genius mind couldn't wrap itself around how time, and inanimate, universally neutral thing, could help.

"Time is going to let me grow and heal from my past. The further away from it, the longer I live in this life, the more I'll figure it out." Melinda believed in karma and the spiritual aspects of life, whereas Reid saw what was right in front of him. She never had anything but misery in front of her, so she had to find something to believe in.

"The human mind is an amazing thing. It can bounce back from almost anything, but it's also wired to respond better to companionship than being alone. Since you say you don't have anyone, I think talking to someone would be highly beneficial for you." He had this want to help her. Besides, she had saved his life. The least she could do was listen, and she could let him try to help. He was afraid she was destructing herself, but she was no longer worried. She knew the days ahead would be hard, but she finally felt stable, like if she was careful and smart about her money, she'd never find herself wanting for food and shelter again. All she needed were the essentials.

"Thanks, but I never put my faith in anybody. I've learned from experience that all it gets you is broken and alone." Sometimes she couldn't even put faith in herself. Reid couldn't imagine this. He put his faith in his mom, even though she was schizophrenic, and in himself to take care of her. And now that he was grown, he put it in his team.

"But you are alone." She shook her head, smiling. She didn't expect anyone else to get it.

"No, I have my faith." Reid fell silent and she could see him working out what she said in his head, but coming up blank. If she had faith in anything, even if it was just a far away dream, she saw it as being better than keeping faith in a person. People always let you do, but dreams can come true. She knew she couldn't explain that to him, though, so she shifted the conversation. "Anyway, you better get changed. The bathroom is through the door to the left. You should be okay to change, it just may hurt a little with the frostbite. Just try not to rub the frostbite, it will make it worse. I'm going to go out and start warming up the water. Just come out when you're ready."

The caring and sharing was becoming too much for her, and it certainly wasn't helping Reid, who may have actually been warm now that the heat was cranked up as high as it was. His team had to be wondering where he was by now, and she knew he was hungry. She also knew, with three men and only one woman in a kitchen, hers was probably a mighty mess by now. So she left her apartment and made her way back to the kitchen, intent on taking over and showing her true colors, leaving Reid to himself to do what no one expected; break down.

The kidnapping had been harder on him than he let on, and he found himself heavily searching her medicine cabinet for something, anything to take away the emotional pain, but he came up empty. He felt empty, and hypocritical for telling her she needed to talk to someone when he never would. If he would have known finding out his frostbite was superficial would allow his stream of emotions to flow so heavily, he may have gone on convincing himself it was as bad as it could get. At least then he wouldn't have to hold his chin up high and pretend to be fine in a room full of profilers.


	3. Chapter 3

_Hey everyone! Here is the last installment of this short little Christmas tale. I am considering making a full story out of this, although that was never the intention, but I'm not sold on what I'm going to do either way. Comments and thoughts on this topic are appreciated. Thank you to everyone who read this! You own my heart!_

**Chapter 3**

**Gone By Morning Light**

"Don't you mess up my kitchen, boy." As Melinda exited her apartment and came through her office to the kitchen, she found various team members scattered about. That wasn't as disturbing as the lone Morgan being the one making food gloriously along her kitchen counters, and using the oven like he owned the place.

"I thought you told us to make ourselves at home. Cooking is messy. I was going to clean up when I was finished." Not wanting to be part of this battle, the rest of the team fled the kitchen. Prentiss with a piece of cake, Hotch with some plates, and Rossi just fled awkwardly and empty handed.

"You're fine. I just always wanted to say that to someone." Morgan did not give her the most pleasant of looks. Gees, people who had always had homes were awfully picky with their humor. "Your friend is going to be fine. The frostbite is superficial. He's changing clothes all by himself, mildly frostbitten hands and all, as we speak."

Melinda tried to comfort him, knowing his worry was the reason for his bite. She began to fill two large pans and one small one up with water, intent on warming them up on the stovetop adjacent to the one Morgan was using. Even when she did make it there, he still hadn't spoken.

"Why don't you let me take care of that. Go see if your friend needs help. I know you want to, and you're skeptical of me." Melinda tried to shoo him away from the food and, more importantly, her oven. He had that look of haphazard firestorm on his face.

"Would you?" There were no 'I'm sorries' here, nor any mention of his true feelings toward her. She hadn't expected there to be.

"Please, you're my guests. You shouldn't be cooking anyway." Although she had invited him to, she hadn't really expected anyone would. She thought they would just wait until she came back to cook them something up. These people were a different kind of people than she was used to.

"You must think I'm a cold person to treat you the way I have. Why are you being so nice to me? You don't know me." Her pure attitude alone made Morgan rethink the way he had treated her. It made him rethink his insecurities about her. He still wasn't set on finding himself comfortable with her, but he was set on trying to.

"No, I don't, but I know that I'd kill to have someone care about me the way you care about your friend."She paused for a minute, realizing what she had said, holding back laughter, becoming a little mortified about how it would be taken, and then finding her composure. "Okay, maybe _kill _wasn't the right word to use in front of a bar full of FBI agents, but you catch my drift. You're only like this because you're trying to protect him and get him the best treatment possible. You don't know me either. So far I'm just some crazy girl from the streets that literally runs into gun wielding serial killers. That doesn't exactly spell out the best help for your friend. I get that, but although I don't know him, I believe in doing no harm. I really am just trying to help. That's all. There's no ulterior motive."

"You have to understand this isn't personal. I'm a profiler and...well, I think you know how you profile. I do apologize, though." There was something very steadfast about Morgan. The way he stood, the way he talked, this gentility he had to him that she had not seen before. It made her rethink him as well.

"Your profiles aren't usually off, are they?" It was just a tidbit she had picked up on. By the way he was acting, you'd think he was never wrong.

"It happens, but it's rare. You might just be the exception." His voice fell soft, something she wasn't sure he'd be able to break into. She was glad, though, to not feel like one person was completely against her trying to help.

"I worked hard to be the exception, Morgan. I don't take credit for a lot of things, but that I do. I know who and where I would have been had I stayed in foster care and been passed back and forth from one family looking for a government pay out, to another. The life I chose wasn't easy, and I never took my decisions lightly, but I don't regret the life I have for myself. I don't expect anyone to understand that." She was an anomaly in a world that had a lot of bad, and she didn't doubt for a minute that he had stared down the belly of some true beasts. But Melinda believed you made decisions and took responsibility for your choices, allowing you to be whoever you chose to be.

"I don't, but I would like it if you would call me Derek, if you're okay with that."Although she would never show it; her upbringing had taught her not to, she breathed a sigh of relief knowing now she could truly help Reid without a naysayer in the room. Even though she tried to hide it, Morgan caught it.

"I am, thank you." Not wanting to make eye contact with him, or show more vulnerability than was necessary in the situation, she focused her attention on the water she was warming up, adjusting the dials on the stove accordingly. "And Derek, your friend doesn't get me either. The way I figure it, one could try to understand me, two could discuss it together, but three people thinking about this would just be a waste of resources."

"I'll keep that in mind. You're a very interesting girl." Morgan chuckled for the first time that day. She definitely wasn't what he had in mind when they had first met.

"Derek, I'm a special kind of special. It's been said." She shook her head, smirking. She knew what she was, and more importantly who, but as she had tried to explain to these people so many times before, she didn't expect them to understand it.

"And that doesn't bother you?" She crinkled her nose, astounded he would ask that, treating it as if it were some kind of insult.

"Not when it's true." He stared at her, raising his eyebrow as if to ask her if it was. "It's true. You should go check on your friend. He's been in there awhile. Maybe he got lost in his shirt sleeve. I'm concerned."

Melinda expected him to move, rightfully so, especially when she was trying to get him to in order to shift the subject off of her. Only, he didn't move. He didn't even try. Instead, he leaned up against the kitchen counter, and watched her as she juggled the water and what he was cooking, periodically glancing up at him.

"Melinda, there is so much I don't understand about you, and there's a lot of answers I'm not going to get because of that, but I think there's something you can clarify for me. Why is it that, when you talk about someone in context, as opposed to directly to them, that you don't use their name?" Melinda put down the spoon she was using to stir the homemade barbeque sauce that Morgan had been trying to heat up, and leaned against the counter on the opposite side of the stove, becoming an exact mirror image to him.

"It's a perspective thing. I just don't get close to people generally, if I don't have to. Even if I do, sometimes I just lie and fake it. The only reason I use names when talking directly to people is out of respect." The lying and the faking of emotions is why she always considered herself a grifter. Although she was forthcoming with certain information that wouldn't wind her back in the system, she was never honest about how she felt about anyone, but only because she didn't let herself feel a thing so she couldn't get attached when the truth was unraveling and it was time for her to move on.

"You can change that, you know." Melinda diverted her eyes, going back to stirring the sauce. Her mind forgot to remind her that it was a bad idea to talk about this, and that she should move on. These were very disarming people.

"Can I? Because I'm not so sure letting someone in after what I've been through is a good idea. Not just for me, but mostly for them. I'm a lot to handle. I'm reckless. But I know all of this. I wouldn't do that to someone else." She paused again, doing something she rarely did and looking Morgan in the eyes. "What is it with you people and your ability to make me over share just by being here?"

"We're not twisting your arm to talk." He crossed his arms, serious.

"Damn it. I know. I just feel like if I'm blatantly honest with you all, you'll trust me with your friend. I never cared much if anyone trusted me, except when someone needed me. I kind of like being needed here and there. I like to help." She paused again. "Damn it. Go check on your friend so I'll stop over sharing."

"Not to be ungrateful, but I don't think pink is really my color. Do you maybe have anything else I could wear?" Before Morgan had a chance to move a muscle, Reid came out from the office. It was a much needed interruption that only garnered laughter from Morgan.

"I'm sure I do, but nothing less girlie, and probably not anything you'd fit into as well." She wasn't the local thrift shop, although you probably couldn't tell that just by looking in her closet.

"What am I supposed to do, then?" This just made Morgan snicker harder.

"Kid, you're supposed to suck it up, wear the clothing, and say thank you." Morgan dropped his head and rubbed between his temples. This was the first time Melinda had truly seen him let go of the stick in his butt and realize everything really was going to be okay.

"Thank you?" This came out as a complete question, not a statement. It was obvious Reid was going to say something else, when Morgan held up his hand to stop him.

"Welcome. Now, what do you want to eat? I know you were complaining about your tummy talking back earlier." To emphasis the thought of food, she went over to the grill to check on the hamburgers Morgan was sizzling. They looked good and done, so she removed them from the grill, motioning for Morgan to come and do something with them, or let her know what was supposed to go on them.

"I don't know, food." To Reid, this wasn't a smart ass answer. He didn't have a menu, or know what they served here.

"Awesome." Melinda shrugged and made her way to the refrigerator. That was a good enough answer for her. As she was rummaging through it, pulling things out here and there, Morgan spoke where Reid's silence was.

"Wait, aren't you going to ask him to specify. He's a picky eater." Melinda shrugged again, coming back to the grill with two pieces of chicken, one for her and one for Reid.

"Nope. If you're smart ass enough to say 'food' in my bar, you get what I want to make. Since I'm hungry for chicken, he's getting it, too." She caught Reid out of the corner of her eye attempting to say something. "And you're going to like it." That shut his trap. "Now, you go sit out at the bar, and I will be out in a little bit to start treating your frostbite, Spencer. Derek, you stay back here with me and help me put these burgers together. I don't know what any of you all want on them."

Reid overly dramatically hobbled his way out to the bar, minus his shoes. Morgan called after him, "You're so dramatic, Reid."

Reid ignored him and kept walking. Melinda turned to Morgan, still a little shaky about her newly found ally. She hadn't had any reservations about Reid, but that was mostly because of his naivety. She knew she had one up on him when it cam to social graces and who hurt who, but Morgan could be the one person who was more street smart than she was, and that scared her.

They made small talk about the weather and other neutral topics, while he helped her piece together what he and three other members of his team wanted on their sandwiches. It must have been nice, she thought, to be close enough to one person, far more three people, to know what they liked on their sandwiches. The only people whose sandwich she knew how to make were her regulars, and it wasn't like they were any friends of hers, but that was their own doing.

Once the sandwiches were done, Morgan offered to take them out to the rest of the team, while Melinda worked on testing the three pots of water for the right temperature, and getting them out to Reid. He was getting put on the back burner again, no pun intended. Just as she had carefully predicted and timed, the water was ready, so she started with one pot, taking it out to him. When she reached the bar, she saw the FBI agents had zero problems making themselves at home. She stood back for just a second and watched how, in their own way, they really were some kind of twisted family to each other. They loved each other. She wished she had love of any kind.

Finally peeling her eyes from the team, she walked to the bar and across from Reid, setting the pot in front of him. Before she said or did anything else, she got in one of her drawers behind the bar, pulling out some Tylenol and pouring some whiskey, and then handing them both to Reid.

"Here, Sugar. Take three of these, and then put your hand in the water until I tell you to take them out." She crossed her legs, propping herself against the bar and waiting for him to do as he was told.

"You can't be serious." She put out her hands as if to ask what the problem was, and what he thought she wasn't serious about. He explained. "You're not supposed to consume alcohol while taking any kind of pain reliever. Don't you have water or something? And is it really sanitary for me to stick my hands in this pan? Don't you cook food with this?"

"Ah, a boy who can't shoot his whiskey. I keep forgetting who I'm dealing with. And yes, the general idea is to use that pan to cook with, but they're my pans and I'll do what I want with them. I can always buy new ones, but I think nipping your frostbite in the bud is more important than worrying about my pans right now." She took the whiskey away, downing it for herself in one go, before pouring him some soda, the only non alcoholic thing she had on tap and at her nearest dispose. Instead of doing anything, he just stared at her. "What?"

"I don't take any kind of drugs." He was firm about this. She thought he was overreacting over a few stupid over the counter painkillers, but that wasn't for her to say.

"And you tell me this now?" She looked at him as if he was going to change his mind, but he didn't. "Look, you do what you want, I'm not your mother. But I'm just warning you that sticking your fingers in that pot of water is going to hurt like hell as you thaw out. You can't say I didn't warn you."

She left him to his own devices, going back and getting the other pot of water. When she came out, instead of having another conversation with him that would no doubt end ridiculously, she gave him no words for choice. She bent down, took his socks off and shoved his feet in the water with ill regard to what it looked like. She knew she had shocked the team with her gruff demeanor, and when Reid started to complain about the pain from thawing out, she simply repeated what she had said before. "You can't say I didn't warn you." She wouldn't take fault where none was due.

She made one more round back in the kitchen, this time swinging by her apartment to grab two washrags, before coming out with the last pan of water. She sat it down in front of Reid. "I'm just going to leave this here for a hot second. If any of you want to dip these washrags in water and hold them up to his ears, feel free to do so. It will help take the frostbite away. I'm going to go and get our food."

She left them to their own devices again, taking the food off the grill. She made up her sandwich with all the fixings, but since Reid was picky, she only put barbeque sauce on his and decided he was going to like it. She took fries out of her deep frier, the leftovers from what Morgan put in earlier. Balancing both plates gently in her hands, she flung back out into the bar to find Emily tending to Reid's ears, while he complained like a little girl, high pitched voice and all. As soon as he caught sight of Melinda, he stopped, but she was already on to him.

"Here, Cowboy, here's your picky eater food. No complaining. It's a Jolene kitchen rule, you see." She sat the food down in front of him, and Emily backed away, presumably giving him room to eat.

"I'm not sure how I'm supposed to eat this without some help." It took Melinda a minute to see he was saying this because his hands were deep inside a pan of water and he didn't have the sense to take them out. She was going to point out that feeding him was a little above and beyond her duty, and it didn't look like anyone else was even going to touch that one with a ten foot pole, but she found a better comeback.

"You mean you don't have four arms?" She said this very seriously. Instead of laughing, he just stared at her, his eyes glazing over like he was at a college lecture. Actually, that may have been a bad analogy, because she thought he was the type that quite liked lectures.

"He doesn't get sarcasm." Rossi spoke up to answer her curiosity about the stupid face he was making.

"That would have been good to know earlier. He probably hasn't gotten half of what I've said." She looked at Reid, preparing to use his first name, but again she just couldn't. There was something sincere in his eyes that kept her from addressing him properly. "Sugar, just take your hands out of the pan for now and eat. It won't kill you. You're in a warm place now."

"Melinda, is he going to be okay?" She took a bar stool and pulled it to the edge of the counter, next to Reid. She wanted to sit by him, to watch over him.

"He's going to be just fine, Mr. FBI Man. Like I was telling Derek here, his frostbite is superficial. Just keep him out of the cold for the next few days and he'll be fine. He's lucky the frostbite is only on his hands, feet and earlobes. It could have been a lot worse." She dug into her food, trying not to talk with her mouth open. She didn't have the best manners. She never had to be taught.

"I told you, those trees were warm when I was under them." She smiled, feeling like something was happening. She was relating to someone in a different way that she didn't know existed, for the first time in her life. It didn't escape the team that Reid was also trying to connect, but was feeling very vulnerable right now, which may have been how this was all happening.

"Right?" All eyes were on her, like she was in on this little secret that none of them knew; a secret about her secret place. She started to shake, uncomfortable with the attention she was getting, so she tried to divert it. "Hey, what do you say we listen to some music?"

She got up, switching on the stereo system to the place. The entire team, save for Rossi, groaned. There were various mumbles of their distaste for country music floating about the room. "Really, you're going to complain about _country _music, in a _country_ bar, where you're getting fed for _free? _You FBI are interesting folk. Haven't you ever heard the saying 'never look a gift horse in the mouth?"

"No. Does it refer to a literal gift horse, or is that slang for something?" Morgan laughed so hard he choked on his food. While he choked, Melinda took the time to respond.

"Neither. Just eat your food." Reid seemed absolutely astounded that someone he didn't know would shut him down so quickly. He was used to getting laughed at, commented on, or ignored, but she just straight out moved on with the subject and that was that. It was like what she said was his martial law.

"It's good to have you back, Kid. It's good to have you back. You had us worried." He put his food down, reaching over from the seat next to Reid to pat him on the back. Then his demeanor changed. "Don't you ever, ever do that to us again. When we tell you to lock the doors and stay put, we mean it. That doesn't mean open the doors if someone knocks because you carry a gun. You're not a particularly agile human being. Defending yourself isn't your thing."

"In my defense..." He stopped talking. Everyone stared. He couldn't come up with one thing to say. "I was scared for my life, too. If it wasn't for Melinda, you would have a lot to explain to my mom. Melinda saved my life."

"Okay...will you just...will you stop with the whole 'I saved your life' thing? You are completely over-exaggerating this. Like Derek said earlier, and I quote, 'you're so dramatic, Reid." She was getting fed up with being made into some over-glorified hero to Reid. She got that, to him, maybe that's what she was, but she was just an ordinary girl, who just wanted to be left alone and treated as an ordinary girl.

"Dramatic? I don't think I'm being dramatic at all! In case you forgot, you charged the man who had a gun to my back and took him down with no regard for your own life. What exactly do you call that?" Reid finished his food, and it was a good thing, too, because he had no time to think about eating while he was protesting.

"Helping out law enforcement. And Sugar, your dramatics are probably why there's not a ring on that pretty little finger of yours." She was only halfway done with her food, but she couldn't stomach any more. She set it down on her plate, intent on ignoring this subject when music saved her life, but didn't save her from the stares of the FBI, who were wondering why she was noticing his ring finger. "Okay, I love this song. Who is going to dance with me?"

"Sorry. I'm getting too old to dance with a pretty, young lady like yourself. I was never a good dancer to begin with." Rossi declined her gently, although he thought if no one else would dance with her that he would reconsider.

"Huh uh. I can't get down to country music." Morgan made a motion in his chair, one that indicated exactly how he got down. She didn't think she could keep up with that kind of dancing.

"I'm just not doing it." She almost laughed at Hotch's assertiveness. He was so very serious without realizing how he came across. It was clear to her that he could bite if needed, but his bark was far likely worse.

Melinda gave it a good thirty seconds, the beginning of Keep You from Sugarland playing in the background. Everyone but Emiy and Reid had resisted, and since dancing with Emily would be awkward, she decided to pull an unsuspected Reid off his seat. How he didn't see this coming she did not know. "All right, you. Up."

"Me? What? Why? I don't dance. I don't even know how to dance. And did you forget about my frostbite?" Reid didn't even have time to process that he had been singled out before his feet were already pulled out of the pan they were in. She was dancing to this song. He was joining her.

"You're not dying. As we say on the streets, 'get off your ass, you're fine.' You're going to dance with me." She pulled him a few feet from the bar to where the floor opened up, pulling him into her. She liked to dance when she heard music, and with someone, if she could. She never felt anything before, so she hadn't expected to feel it now. But there were sparks when she pulled him close, and she wondered if he felt them, too.

"I'm sorry that I'm no good at this. I did tell you I couldn't dance." Reid didn't waste anytime defending his two left feet. Melinda didn't care about that. The dance was slow, sweet, and all he had to do was follow along. More importantly, the dance was in front of his whole team, and nothing was going to happen. She knew all eyes were on them.

"You're doing just fine. This isn't a contest. I'm not exactly Little Miss Twinkle Toes either." She kept trying to adjust and readjust herself. She couldn't put her hand in his and risk rubbing the frostbite on it, so she had her hands on his hips like he should have done with her. Instead, he had placed them over her neck at her willing so that he didn't actually have to touch anything.

"I know you don't want to hear this, but maybe you'll let me sit back down if I tell you. You really did save my life." Reid wanted out of dancing, feeling butterflies in his own heart that he didn't care to deal with, or reveal in front of his entire team. What made this all the harder was that they were face to face and so close, but not close enough that either could hide their expressions from the other.

"Well, let's try not to think of it that way. I'm just going to consider it payback for Jolene's murder." Even though she continued to tell herself she would help anyone in danger, and she would, she'd like to think that maybe somewhere down inside she would have thought before charging a gun toting individual. It was scary to think she would go that far, but maybe, just maybe she had been doing it fueled by the ghost Jolene. Instinct took over, telling her this was the man who took the only friend she ever had, and the only person she didn't grift, was the one who almost took Reid's life.

"You know, I was thinking about you being Melinda, _Just_ Melinda. Why don't you use Jolene as a last name? You can't bring her back, but you can honor her memory." Emotions flowed through her like a river, as the song came to a close. Truth be told, she could have stayed this close to Reid for the rest of the night, dancing to one song after another, but her emotions couldn't. She was breaking every rule in her book just by being close to him, and she knew that from the moment their eyes met.

"Melinda Jolene." She whispered to herself thoughtfully, pulling away from him and breaking the trance of their own little world. "Well, why don't we get some aloe on you frostbite and get you wrapped up so you and your team can be on your way."

Reid was thrown immediately. How could someone go from being so close to him, to just pretending like the dance that was asked of him hadn't happened. He started to think he was silly and even more naive than he gave himself credit for. What he had been feeling must have only been on his end, because he hadn't wanted to break apart that easily. In fact, he had forgotten about his entire team that was looking on.

Melinda's hospitality was running out. She worked quick to concentrate only on what she was doing, not on what her heart was thinking. She barely listened to it, anyway. It was useful the one time she decided to flee the state home, but had she listened to it past that, she would have been dead. She knew she couldn't do this. She couldn't drop her guard or let herself think of someone this way for a second longer, especially someone who would be gone with the morning light.

She made small talk with everyone while she worked, and then allowed Reid to discuss his whole feat in detail. She had pieced together what she could, so the details didn't much matter to her. It would only get her more involved. Getting to know these people was like being sucked into a cult. She felt like she could pick up and follow them anyway, divulging her innermost secrets and still feel human with them, which was more than she was getting out of this town. This made her realize that it wasn't all people that were bad, just the ones she had met in her small part of the world. Maybe Morgan was right. Maybe she could make some changes in her life, but that require giving up everything she finally found, and she knew that practicality would always come first for her.

As soon as she had Reid bandaged, the cheerful banter dying down, her place hopping with more heart than it had since Jolene passed, she tried to find the nicest way to bid them ado. Her best excuse was that she was tired. The worst was that everyone knew she was lying. She hated to send them on their way, what with Reid and how he wasn't supposed to chill the mildly frostbitten areas again. She gathered Reid's clothes from her apartment irregardless, and before she knew it he had followed her into her apartment.

She found herself offering up Jolene's house for them to stay in. It was fifty feet out the back of her apartment, which was better than letting him freeze his way across town. The house was large, old, and had been cleaned by a crime scene team. She hadn't planned on letting anyone in there, but she heard Jolene's voice in her head telling her to let them skip the twenty minute walk and stay there. She couldn't argue it.

As she flocked the team out the back door, she was already imagining the things she'd say to Reid when they came to say goodbye in the morning. She was already bracing for a goodbye that shouldn't matter. But as morning light came and she awoke, she found them already gone. She didn't know it, but it was Reid's doing. He also didn't know how to say goodbye very well, because he had too many of those in his life. He accepted his feelings were null and he moved along. The rest of the team knew why, after a night of frostbite and kidnapping turned around by a mysterious women, he was so eager to get out of there without a good night's sleep under his belt.

But before he left, he stuck one single note in the mailbox to the bar, knowing she wouldn't set foot in Jolene's house, and he couldn't face her again. When Melinda found it that afternoon, she was surprised and had some trouble deciphering his chicken scratch. When she did manage, she saw him caring, telling her that she wouldn't have to be a social security number anymore. She could be a real girl, human, something she wasn't sure she had ever felt. He was going to make a few calls and make sure Melinda Jolene was registered in the books. She could finally have an identity, something she had searched for her whole life.

But better than that gift wasn't just the one of closure she had gotten on Jolene's case by helping a stranger being held at gunpoint, but the phone number written in a different pen by a different hand at the bottom of the letter. As the snow continued to fall again, orchestrating its own song, she heard Morgan's words echo in her ears. She heard him telling her she could change, and instantly she knew the phone number was Reid's, and had been a gift from him. How she chose to use it would be up to her. All she knew was that, although unconventional, this was the bestChristmas she had ever had.


	4. Chapter 4

_In case you all didn't already know this, you're awesome! Completely, absolutely awesome. When I first started writing this, I only intended for it to be a three part Christmas event, but then so many of you added this story to your favorites and alerts, that I became a little obsessed with wanting to continue this. You all are so encouraging, and I appreciate it so much! Then, the reviews came pouring in after the last chapter and around the same time that the lightbulb came on in my head and gave me an idea to continue this story with. I'm kind of flying by the seat of my pants on this one, so please bear with me. I hope you all enjoy it!_

_Also, danicalif80 brought up a very good point in the reviews. I know there was some confusion regarding how Reid got himself kidnapped. I implied a lot of things, but since I wasn't planning on continuing with the story and was more focused on the aftermath of the kidnapping, I left the how part out. I do, however, have a rough back story for that, so I shall explain it in case it comes up again. _

_Basically, the team was called out to Colorado on a serial killer case. With the last body, which turned up after the team arrived, came a taunt to the police. They feared someone else was in danger and set out without Reid to follow up on that. The reason they left Reid behind was mostly just to man the desks at the police station and make sure there was some sort of resource there in case another incident occurred that they didn't see coming, or they needed in-office back up. He was also left behind to be the mediator between Garcia back at the headquarters, and the rest of the team. They told him to lock up because there had been the threat, a little suspicious that they could be being led astray, but still having to follow the lead with all available hands on deck. Sure enough, the killer had planted the notion that another person was in trouble to try and get the police out of the office, hoping they would leave one behind, since they usually need someone to man the office. He saw kidnapping a police officer, or FBI agent as his leverage to negotiate. _

_ Reid, unfortunately, opened the door believing that he was armed and had a handle on things, and also concerned because the person looked like they were in need of help, and with a serial killer on the loose, you never can tell. The fact is, he knew better, but he let his emotions and want to help people cloud his judgement. Morgan figured out their suspicions were confirmed when the lead turned up empty and he couldn't get Reid to pick up on his cell or at the station. Since the killer was a local, he also knew about the place that Melinda called her secret place, and took Reid there to hide him, not intending on killing him, but keeping him until he could plan out how he wanted to negotiate things. His mental state was dwindling quickly, and Reid was beginning to get on his nerves, so he had made the decision to kill him at the same time as Melinda found them. Enter the story. If there are any questions, feel free to ask. Like I said, it's just a rough back story. _

_lolyncut – Thanks for the review! Both of your reviews, actually. Your first review was actually the tipping point in making me decide to continue this story. I was thinking exactly what you were thinking as far as having Melinda meet the more secure Reid further down the line. I really wanted to play with that, and your review let me know that someone would be interested in reading it, so I am thankful to you for that. I hope this lives up to any expectations you may have. Thank your for reading! And can I say that you are way too cute for reviewing twice because you liked this story and wanted me to continue. I'm telling you, you are definitely the person who inspired me to continue with this. And you're so welcome, but thank you for reviewing and being so inspiring! It is truly people like you that challenge me and make me a better writer! _

_SSAjane – Thanks for the review! And may I say that I love your username. Thank you for liking Melinda and I hope you enjoy this as a full length story. It's reviews like yours that made me want to continue this. _

_harksara – Thanks for the review! This is random, but I'm one of those people who sings about everything, and your username makes me want to bust out in gleeful renditions of Hark! the Herald Angels Sing. (I'm weird, I know.) I hope the continuation of this story makes you as happy as your username makes me._

_story-untold15 – Thanks for the review! I try to think of my chapters as scenes in a movie, so I try to make them as visual as possible. Thank you for the feedback and letting me know that you could picture what was happening. It's reviews like yours that I'm so appreciative of as an aspiring writer. Thank you._

_danicalif80 – Thanks for the review! Also, thank you for pointing out the little blunder about the confusion as to how Reid was kidnapped. Because I had a back story in my head for that, I didn't realize just how confusing I had let that get. I needed to either drop any further comments about it, or explain, and instead I landed somewhere in the middle. Thank you for pointing that out and I hope I clarified above. I'm sorry for any confusion. Also, I always check my reader's profiles because I like to get to know them better, and I just have to say that I am also a huge fan of the Gideon / Reid relationship. I'm still mourning Mandy leaving the show all these years later. I think there should be a support group for that, really. I am also writing a fiction regarding Gideon and Reid's relationship, and can't wait until I have some extra time so that I can read yours. _

_8393 – Thank you for the review! I'm glad you loved this story and Melinda. I had a lot of fun with Melinda. I love __writing off color characters, and off color characters are just too fun with a buttoned up, stick in the mud, but ever so lovable Reid. I'm glad she translated well. I was a bit worried about her character._

_LuciansLycanNightShade – Thanks for the review...both of them! Thank you for taking the time to review not just the whole story, but to take the time to review two chapters! I am so glad you like the character! I was worried of how she would come off / if she'd be too much for Reid and no one would like their connection. I hope you enjoy the rest of the story!_

**Chapter 4**

**Swiftly Gone**

_A Year and a Half Later_

The team sat in the bullpen of the BAU, fiddling with some paperwork at their desks. Reid kept staring at his phone and tapping his pen on his desk in a one-two motion, barely able to concentrate. His annoying pen tapping drew the attention of the other team members.

"Hey, Kid! Give the pen a break. What did it ever do to you?" Reid looked up at Morgan briefly, just long enough to answer him.

"Nothing." As soon as his head went back down, his pen was back at work. Prentiss was trying to pretend it didn't bother her, but she was giving him the look of death out of the corner of her eye. Morgan snapped, having had enough of having his concentration broken.

"Reid!" He didn't yell, just spoke strongly enough to catch Reid's permanent attention, while getting up and reaching across the desk, removing the pen from his hand. Reid's eyes were fully on him. " What's eating you?"

"Have you heard from Melinda?" The question wasn't just directed at Morgan. Reid took the time to glance at Prentiss and Rossi, too. Rossi shouldn't even had been out in the bullpen, but his office was being repainted for the second time since he moved to the BAU, and he was temporarily using an extra, lonely desk that was just waiting to be filled.

"Who?" Morgan was the first to question it. Rossi sat at his desk, quietly observing the scene, intrigued by the way Reid was acting. Prentiss, however, picked up on what this was about right away. A woman never forgot the way a guy looked at another woman when he really meant it. It's what kept women believing that love was still out there.

"I think he means the girl from Colorado that saved his life." She smiled, her tone insinuating a love connection had been made, and she wasn't about to let it go.

"_Just _Melinda, Melinda? Ooh, now that's what I'm talking about, Reid." Instead of being embarrassed by the heckling, Reid was less than amused and clearly on edge, which his jagged voice reflected when he responded to Morgan.

"It's not like that, and I'm worried about her." He was short, uncomfortable with the conversation, yet he had to ask what he did, even though he knew it would land him in a place where he was open to be picked on, but only by people with the best intentions.

"Why would you be worried about her. You haven't seen her since Colorado, have you?" Rossi finally decided to throw in his two cents, obviously prodding Reid for the pending info everyone was looking for.

"When would I have time to do that?" Reid was offended, feeling as if they were implying he was leading a secretive double life outside of the BAU. He told his team more about himself than even they realized. He wouldn't have been able to hide something as big as they were insinuating.

"We have breaks, Kid, and vacation time. If we were here twenty four seven, we'd burn out." He almost added 'like Gideon,' to the end of that, but quickly thought the better of it. That would be the opposite of helping the situation.

"I go and see my mom then. You guys know that." Reid barked a little, making it clear to them that he was uncomfortable with where this conversation was headed.

"Have you talked to her since the case?" Rossi tried once more, rewording his question to get a entirely different, but just as important, answer from Reid.

"She calls me once or twice a month to make sure I haven't been kidnapped again. I don't see where that's relevant. All I did was ask a question. If I knew I was going to be interrogated, I wouldn't have bothered. I mean, doesn't she call you guys, too?" Reid rarely got angry or agitated, and notably only when he was using, but the team knew Reid well enough to know that some things were too personal for him to want to talk about. He had become more careful over the years in trying to have something for himself. It took a lot of convincing for him to know he needed that.

"No, she doesn't. And calm down, Kid. We're just trying to figure out why you're worried about her. If we don't know that, we can't help. Besides, you were the one who brought it up, which means you want our help. That's all we're trying to do." Morgan slowly reached over and put Reid's pen back on his desk. He'd rather have Reid take out his frustration on it than them. The pen was inanimate. It wouldn't get offended.

"She hasn't called me at all this month and it's already the 29th. That's not like her." Sure enough, Reid picked the pen back up and started going at it again. Morgan wasn't sure what was getting the worst of the beating, the pen or the desk. It was possible he was, because the look that Prentiss gave him for giving the pen back was close to causing him near immediate cardiac arrest.

"Reid, have you ever called her?" Prentiss was fully involved in this conversation now, a little amused even, and went as far as to close the folder she was doing paperwork inside of to focus on it.

"I never had to. She always called me. I don't even know how she got my number." Morgan laughed. It was surprising to him that someone with a mind like Reid's would take so long to bother to question that.

"I added it to the letter you left for her. Reid, if you're not calling her, that may be why she stopped calling you." This would have been common sense to anyone else, but to Reid it was counterintuitive.

"What do you mean?" To Reid, if things in his life were going along fine and swift, he just left it alone and didn't rock the boat. By doing that, sometimes he tipped the boat clear over.

"You do realize she's not just calling to make sure you haven't been kidnapped again. That's just an excuse to talk to you. If she's the one always doing the calling, after a year and a half she may have taken that as a hint." Rossi decided now would be the superb time to cut in. All eyes were on him. Even Reid took the liberty of swiveling around in his chair to hear Rossi out.

"You think? Because she always said she just wanted to make sure I hadn't been kidnapped again, because I had told her I'd been kidnapped before." Rossi sat behind Reid, shaking his head back and forth. Reid still amazed him at times. He had made so much progress in the last few years, going to a boy who missed everything, to a man who was slowly becoming socially trained, but he still had his moments. He took people for their word and forgot that it was necessarily to read between the lines, especially when it came to women.

"I know. As a woman, I know how hard it is to like someone and not be able to tell them. She's lying about why she's calling because she's afraid of being rejected. You should call her, Reid." Prentiss had spent far less time calling a guy in college. He was always friendly and sweet to her on the phone, and always seemed interested, but he never called her on his own. Eventually, she took the hint and realized he was just a nice guy who didn't have the guts to say he wasn't interested in her in any way, but was still willing to listen to her gripe.

"If what you're saying is correct, how do I know she's not just mad at me for not calling her before?" Reid tensed up, wanting to keep any issues to an absolute minimum. Who was he to call her if she was mad? That would be rude.

"You don't, but all you can do is call her and find out. If you like her, even a little bit, you need to call her. If that's why she's mad, I'm sure she'll forgive you. She wouldn't have called you for a year and a half just to turn around and decide she suddenly wants nothing to do with you. She's invested too much time into trying. She just needs to know you're trying too." Prentiss didn't know if Reid's mind would comprehend all of that, but she thought she'd throw it out there and let it try. There were a lot of things he understood, more now than ever, but women were still a mystery to him. They were to most guys, but Reid's lack of understanding was a little more intense.

"Why did you give her my number, anyway?" It took Reid long enough to process that part, his mind and maybe a few other body parts he didn't want to consider thinking only about Melinda.

"You really don't know?" Morgan lifted his head up to look at Reid, trying to hold back the disbelief and amusement from the conversation between he and Prentiss that he was trying to sit back and listen to. He thought she was getting through. She wasn't.

"You should have seen the way you two danced. You'd have to be blind to not see something was happening." Prentiss spoke up, hoping that it might be better coming from a woman, the same one who had been trying to make progress with him.

"I guess I'm blind then." He shrugged, a little offended again. Everyone knew better. He was just protecting himself. He didn't like when people saw through him, which was a big downfall for him being as he worked with profilers. It was beneficial to him, though. He needed people who weren't afraid to keep him in place and weren't afraid of his intellect, but only wanted to see him grow as a person.

"You're not blind, Reid. A little dense when it comes to certain things, and a liar when you're trying to protect your feelings, but you see more than you think you do." Morgan had seen the way he had taken to Lila, and the way he let his guard down and hit on Austin. He had it in him when he stopped thinking and just let himself feel, which was rare.

"So you think I should call her?" If the answer was not so obvious, everyone would have groaned. Instead, the team answered in unison, the surprise of it all nearly knocking Reid out of his chair.

"YES!" Somehow, when no one was paying attention to anything but Reid, and Reid to nobody but himself, Hotch and Garcia had crept their way into the conversation, careful to stay back, as not to disturb it. It was rare the team could gang up on Reid, and since he could outdo them in his sleep, they took the opportunity to get a charge out of him.

"Right now?" He didn't have to wait for that answer either. The team was ready.

"YES!" At this, a few other agents in the same bullpen looked up to see what the commotion was. When they saw everyone was surrounding Reid, no one thought much of it.

"But I'm at work!" Reid answered with the same enthusiasm as the team had, and almost as loud as the five of them. He even scared himself a little.

"Consider it a late follow up call to one of our cases." Reid looked at Hotch, surprised this was coming out of him. There had to be some rules being broken somewhere, and Hotch was a stickler for them. "Reid, she wasn't a victim. You can call her without crossing any boundaries, and I can explain the call to Chief Strauss if she questions your phone records. Call her."

"Are you all going to stand here and listen in, or can I have a little privacy?" This is where Hotch drew the line at bending the rules. It was bad enough he was already trying to think of ways to explain Reid's call log on a government issued phone. That alone told him he wasn't following bureau policy, but he could explain it, so he was willing to stick his neck out for a little bit of sunshine in Reid's life. He worked hard for it.

"This is a federal office. I said you could call her and we would consider it a work call. I didn't say we were going to give you special parameters to make the phone call." Plus, he really wanted to listen in, but Hotch being Hotch, he would never admit that. He couldn't be seen as that kind of person. He also knew the rest of the team wanted the same. He wouldn't take that little bit of joy from them.

"All of you just want to know how this is going to turn out, don't you?" Indicative to a newer, more socially wise Reid, he caught on to this. Of course, everyone was coming closer and closer to him, so it wasn't hard.

"Oh yes. Start dialing, my little wonder, or I'm going to do it for you." And Garcia would, with no second thought. In fact, if he didn't do it soon, she was going to run over there, take his phone, and do it for him. She couldn't stand the suspense, and she wanted to see her little genius attempt to talk to a girl. She had only heard about such myths.

Begrudgingly, Reid opened his cell phone in front of all of his team members, finding her number in his phone, hitting send, and waiting. He didn't have to wait long, though, before a quizzical look crossed his face. The whole team was right in his business to find out what the look was all about. "That's weird. The number has been disconnected."

"Call the bar." Morgan offered up what he thought to be a logical suggestion. Reid hadn't even thought of it because Melinda had been calling him from her personal phone. He had a one track mind sometimes.

"I don't have the number." Morgan opened his desk, pulling something out and throwing it on Reid's desk in front of him.

"Here. I swiped it from the bar when we were there." Reid looked down, his face scanning over the menu to Melinda's bar.

"And you kept it all this time?" Reid looked at Morgan like he was crazy. Who keeps menus to a restaurant thousands of miles away in their desk drawer for a year and a half? How do they live with that kind of disheveled clutter?

"I thought you might need it someday, and I was right, so don't be giving me that look." Noting the look, Morgan brushed him off, not putting up with him being an internal smart ass.

Reid was going to roll his eyes, but he stopped himself and started to dial the number on menu, fully expecting to get someone to pick up. If not her, someone who worked for her and could tell him what's been going on. What he got was much more shocking.

"That number has been disconnected, too." Garcia moved in on Reid's desk, reaching down and swiping the menu from it before Reid had time to close his phone.

"Give me that menu. If she still has that bar I will find that number so fast that you won't even realize I was gone." She was starting to hastily take off, a woman on a mission, before realizing she couldn't just go and do what she wanted, as it wasn't an official case. She turned to Hotch for some leeway on this, since he was so willing to give Reid leeway on making the phone call. "I mean, Sir, can I take a break now instead of later so I can look this up for our favorite boy genius?"

"Garcia, you don't get breaks." This deterred her not. You could not waylay Penelope Garcia. She got what she wanted one way or another, and always with a smile on her face.

"Then an early lunch?" It was two in the afternoon, but she thought she would try and outsmart him for one hot second, just long enough to get what she wanted. She should have known better with a profiler.

"You already had lunch." Seeing Garcia's face go from happy to glum, and Reid's follow, Hotch did something he rarely did and caved. "Go ahead. Just do it quickly and discreetly." Garcia became excited again, scurrying off before he had a chance to change his mind.

"Ill expect an update when Garcia comes back." Hotch's eyes fixated on all the team members for just a second, before turning to go to his office and tend to business. He had wasted enough time allowing the team to delve into a little bit of personal time. He couldn't waste any more.

"Wow, I wonder what I have to do to get Hotch to allow me to call a sexy woman during work hours." Morgan was surprised at how easy Hotch was letting this fly.

"Meet less sexy women." Reid pretended to go back to work, looking down at his paperwork and writing a few things he would never be able to read again.

"Hey! What are you saying?" Prentiss and Rossi both found themselves unable to keep their composure. What Reid missed with his own love life, he sure caught from everyone else's.

"Nothing bad. I'm just saying you meet a lot of women. You'd always be on the phone." It was Morgan who was now unable to do paperwork, and, out of nothing but the prophecy of monkey see monkey do, he began tapping his pen violently on his desk.

"He speaks the truth." Prentiss outstretched her hands, having them do the shrugging for her.

"That's not fair." Morgan tapped his pen harder, not liking being the one who was now being ganged up on, even though he knew it was done in jest. He didn't like it because he knew they were right, and he knew what it made him sound like, though he was far from it.

"I agree. How many dates did you have last weekend?" Reid looked up from his paperwork, already knowing the answer to this. He just wanted Morgan to tell the rest of the team.

"Three, but they were casual dates. I'm not exclusive with anyone and it doesn't go _there_."He wanted to make that last part very clear. He wasn't, and never would be, the love them and leave them kind.

"Right, but I had none. In fact, my weekends have been free most of my life. I think Hotch just feels bad for me." It even struck Reid in the gut to say that. He felt bad for himself. He just didn't want to admit that, because he was never able to feel sorry for himself. Not in his life or the job he had. It was about others, which left no time for himself.

"We all do, Reid. We all do." Reid began to open his mouth to say something back to Prentiss, not liking where this was going, when Garcia, who was again previously unnoticed, butted in.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news and some worse news. The bar burned down a few weeks ago." She stopped between Reid and Morgan's desks, mostly addressing them.

"What's the worse news?" Reid didn't like when Garcia didn't give it all up in one go. It usually meant something unthinkable was about to come out of her mouth.

"No one has seen the owner, Melinda Jolene, since. The fire was ruled an accident. One of the stoves malfunctioned, but the place was burnt to a crisp, so there's no way to tell if she perished in the fire or not. I hope this isn't the girl you were trying to call." She knew it was. She wasn't a profiler, but she had picked up on it being her bar.

"When did you say this fire was?" Reid began to panic inside, but he wasn't going to show it. He kept his head just the way he was taught to at Quantico.

"May 23rd." Reid racked his brain for a second, thinking back through dates and times to the last time he had talked to her. Then, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"The last time I heard from her was on the last Tuesday of May, which would have been after the fire. She's still alive." He wanted to take this as good news, but there were so many variables wandering through the back of his head that it made it difficult to do.

"If she's still alive, then why is her phone disconnected? Reid, did she say anything to you that would indicate anything was wrong?" Morgan could feel it in his gut that something had gone terribly awry. He wanted to make Reid aware of it without startling him.

"I don't think so." Reid remembered pictures first, dates second, and conversations third. Even still, he could usually repeat one back to you word for word if you just gave him a few minutes to sort through the first two until he got to the third.

"Think harder, Reid. You know her past and what she does. If she's homeless again, but has made an effort to shut off her phone and virtually disappear, there has to be a reason for it. I could tell when I was talking to her that she would do anything to not go back to that life, so she wouldn't shut herself off to the world unless she had to, and especially not from you." Morgan had talked to her long enough on that cold December night to have gotten a good enough feel for her to know she needed stability since she hadn't had it before. He had watched her dance with Reid long enough to know she felt it in him, even if she didn't consciously realize it. Her calling him so often confirmed this.

"How do you know that?" Reid thought the same, but Morgan seemed more sure of it than even he did. He wouldn't admit it, but it made him a little jealous.

"She told me that she doesn't get close to people, so much so that she doesn't call them by their real names when they're not around, and if she does, she shuts herself down inside so she can't connect with them. She asked me if she could change that. I told her she could. That's why I left her your number. I was trying to bait her and see if she would try to change, and she did. She wouldn't just walk away from something like that if she could help it. It would be too painful for her to even try to make a connection. I'm sure she's gone through a lot emotionally just trying. She wouldn't be capable of walking away from that." Reid knew Morgan was right, although he hadn't known about that conversation between the two. This made him more worried, but also made him rack his brain harder to remember the exact conversation until it uploaded into the front and center of his mind.

"She sounded like she normally did, calm, scatter-brained, but like she had it all figured out and would be fine. Now that you mention it, though, when I asked her how she was doing in natural conversation, she said if she needed anything, she would I'm ask me in person. Usually she says, 'Sugar, I am making due just fine. And don't worry, I'm not calling because I need a thing.' I guess it was always implied that I wasn't asking that as casually as I wanted to." He asked because he secretly wanted her to need something from him. He felt as if he was in her debt for what she had done for him. There was so much more to it than just her saving his life. She cared for him as well. He just wanted to show her the same kind of compassion. He didn't know how else to make her feel less empty. He knew it would help him, too.

"Garcia, can you go and see if anyone with her name has boarded any public transportation of any kind since the fire, anywhere in Colorado or the surrounding area? Actually, don't just check under Melinda Jolene, look for anyone with the first name Melinda." With Reid on the same page as him, Morgan shot out an order. Hotch wasn't around to not approve, and this was important, not only to Reid, but to someone who was a hero in the team's eyes.

"On it." Garcia turned from the team and went back to her little haven. She didn't get too far before Morgan was out of his chair.

"Where are you going?" Subconsciously Reid was holding on to Morgan as an emotional crutch. He didn't realize it until Morgan started to depart from his position across from Reid.

"To talk to Hotch. I read that girl six ways from Sunday when we were at that bar, trying to make sure she didn't have an ulterior motive when it came to helping a Federal Agent, considering her past. A lot about her is a mystery to me, but I'm sure she wouldn't just disappear like this. She helped you, now we have to help her. She could be in trouble, alone, unarmed, and homeless on the streets." Before Morgan could push in his chair, as not to trip any other agents walking past, Rossi was out of his chair, too.

"I'll go with you. Reid, why don't you and Prentiss go with Garcia in case she finds a Melinda, _just_ a Melinda, and is able to pull up video footage of her. You're going to need to help identify her to make sure it's the right person." Prentiss rose and Reid followed right after. Everyone had a mission now, a purpose. Morgan and Rossi were halfway to Hotch's office when the spotted a hold up through the blinds.

"Uh oh. It looks like someone is in trouble." Rossi's sarcasm passed through Morgan, and he looked up too, spotting what Rossi had seen first, Chief Strauss.

"I didn't do it." Nor did Morgan want to be in the middle of her and whomever did whatever it was that had given her a more darkened scowl than the normal one she carried.

"If you use that tone of voice, I'm not sure she'll be convinced." Morgan would laugh, but they were already at Hotch's office. Rossi took the liberty of knocking on the door, less afraid of Chief Strauss due to more years of working with her.

"Hotch, can we talk to you for a minute?" Rossi moved inside the room, while Morgan stayed in the doorway, almost barricading it so they could say their piece without anyone trying to stop them.

"He's in a meeting right now." Cheif Strauss' voice was cold, cutting through the air like a knife. This didn't deter Morgan, though. It only made him angry. He was one hundred percent protective of Reid and anyone else who tried to protect him, too. He wouldn't take this lying down, so to speak.

"Fine, you should probably hear this, too. Hotch, Melinda's bar burned down. Reid said he talked to her after that, but she didn't sound like herself. We know she got out of the fire, but her phone is disconnected and we're worried she's in trouble. Prentiss and Reid are helping Garcia check video footage and public transportation records. We think she may have been trying to come to Reid, but that was over a month ago, and she hasn't been heard from since." He repeated the little that Hotch knew just to catch Chief Strauss up on the entire story. Because she was involved by default, he was sure she'd want to make the final decision on this, and he wanted her to know the severity of the situation, and that he wouldn't stand passive and let whatever happened just be.

"If you'll excuse for a moment, Chief Strauss." Hotch looked from her to Morgan, focusing his attention on him, and making it obvious to Chief Strauss that this was more important than what she had to say. "Why don't you file your paperwork away for the day. Once we get word from Garcia, we should have a better idea of where to start looking for her. As soon as we know that, we'll take off."

"Now, just wait a minute. I make the final decisions around here, not you, and I say what cases you can and can not take. It doesn't sound like there even is a case for you to be invited in on." Chief Strauss was firm, angry that Hotch never consulted her about this.

"There's not. This one is strictly personal." He didn't feel he needed to. He was in charge of his team and he did a good job. He didn't need anyone micromanaging it. It was not her job to do so, as much as she liked to think. They chose cases just fine without her input.

"Oh, well why didn't you just say that in the first place? I'm always glad to use government money to send my agents galavanting around the country for personal reasons." This solidified her suspicions and constant worry that she had over Hotch running the team. They were the best at what they did, but she always felt they would benefit from being out from under a few of the members, such as Gideon and Hotch. There was one down, but the other one stood tall and he wasn't intimidated by her.

"Erin, back off. This girl saved Reid's life a year and a half ago. This may not be an official case, but we owe it to her, and to Reid, to make sure she's okay." Rossi had no respect for Chief Strauss' and her decisions most of the time. He had practically built this unit of the FBI, and he didn't appreciate someone who didn't understand it running it. He never had.

"Is this the girl that tackled a gunman herself, unarmed, to keep a serial killer from murdering Reid?" As with all FBI cases, the report had been filed stating such. The team was almost surprised she even remembered this. She had so much paperwork come across her desk, and she never questioned them about it, so they figured it was water under the bridge; out of sight and out of mind.

"That's the one." Rossi stared her down, but she was the one to break first. That was one thing Rossi had up on her; the ability to profile her and realize that under it all, she puffed herself up and gave more than she could take. If you challenged her hard enough, and silently, you found her true being. Her only weapons were words.

"Guys, we came back with nothing. No one with the first name Melinda boarded a plane, train, or bus anywhere in Colorado or the surrounding areas, as far as we could tell. We don't have enough time to go through the footage from all of the airports, bus stations, and train stations. There's literally hundreds, and with a month's worth of footage we would need a lifetime's supply of Adderall just to get through the the eastern part of the state. It would probably be a waste of time, too, because it's unlikely she'd be using a different name. She said Melinda was the name given to her by the nurses in the hospital where she was born, and she was still referring to herself as such now, which means, no matter what she did, she didn't feel the need to lie about her name. When I was working on getting her last name officiated, I ran her social and she checked out. She was Melinda. _Just_ Melinda." Reid didn't bother to look at Chief Strauss. He knew he'd get no reaction out of her that would sooth his nerves. He didn't want to upset himself more.

"She could have driven somewhere." Chief Strauss didn't have time for this. Her tone came across rude and ruthless.

"No, she couldn't have. She doesn't drive. She doesn't know how. She doesn't even have a license. If she didn't take public transportation, she walked or was taken." Reid knew this was still a fact, so much so that he took the time to look directly at Chief Strauss this time. He wanted her to know she was wrong without a fraction of doubt. She sighed heavily and did something that no one had ever seen her do. She decided to work with the team, instead of against them.

"Okay, look, you know I can't condone sending a team out on an unofficial case, or a case they haven't been invited into. It's against the rules. But there are a few loopholes, and considering this involves a woman who saved the life of a federal agent, I think it would be okay if we used them. I can send Reid to look for her under the circumstances, but I can't send him alone, and I can't spare another team member. As I was just in here telling Agent Hotchner, there was a high profile murder last night in Seattle and the case takes top priority. If you can find another government paid employee that knows your job to go with Reid, I'll be forced to sign off on it. The rest of you need to prepare to go to Seattle, Garcia included." She knew that she had lost any negotiating leverage she may have had with them by giving in, so she laid down the law and left the room. She would give them an hour to coordinate things before getting on their cases again about going to Seattle. She could find a way to bend the rules, within policy, concerning Reid going to look for Melinda, but she couldn't do it by keeping the team from going to Seattle at their utmost convenience.

"Hotch, where are you going?" Hotch got up from his desk just moments after Chief Strauss' departure, presumably to do what looked a lot like chasing after her, although no one could figure out why he would argue with a bull after she had conceded.

"To talk to J.J. She's speaking at an FBI training seminar on the third floor today." Prentiss stopped him before he could get out the door.

"Hotch, wait. I just had lunch with her last weekend. She's told me she's taking some personal time starting tomorrow." Hotch nodded.

"I know, but it's the only way we could get her. The Pentagon wouldn't let us borrow her if she were on duty there. I'm hoping her allegiance to Reid will allow her to consider joining him during that personal time. She's the only chance we have; the only one who knows the job and is qualified to go with him." Hotch raced out the door, not wanting to miss her. She was only there until three, or at least that's what she had said when she had talked to him last night, asking him to stop by and visit her if he had a chance. He wanted to catch her before he left.

"Wait, does everyone talk to JJ on a regular basis since she left but me?" Reid hadn't realized that she was such a part of everyone's life. He had only talked to her a few times since her departure. It was still hard on him.

"Yes!" This time when the team answered, it had a little less volume, but just the same gusto. Reid was getting tired of hearing them in stereo.

"Reid, don't be offended. J.J. cares for you just the same as she does us, but she knows you're not good with goodbyes. She's just trying to make it easier on you, that's all. She knows this was the hardest on you." Prentiss sensed Reid's frustration, as he always had a different, special kind of bond with her. She wanted to smooth it over.

"I just don't like feeling abandoned." She wasn't the first person who had done it to him. He knew she meant well, and she thought a clean break would be easiest since they were both busy, with nearly no time to see each other. She didn't want to keep reopening his old wounds, but it just made him feel like she couldn't put the effort into him.

"Reid, she's not Gideon. And neither is Melinda. We'll find her." Morgan tried to be reassuring. The poor kid had to feel like everyone left at some time or another, whether they meant to or not.

"How can you be so sure?" Nothing felt right about this, nor did anything make sense, even when he tried to profile it.

He thought of a million reasons why her phone would be off, or she wouldn't use public transportation, most revolving around money, but he remembered she said that the bar pulled in six figures, so that shouldn't have been the problem for her. And why run if the fire was an accident? There were too many variables that didn't add up. She wouldn't have willingly sent herself incognito and out on the streets.

"Because of the kind of person she is. If she was coming to you, nothing would stop her from getting there. She's a tough girl, and she's out there somewhere. She's out there looking for you." Morgan was convinced that's what she had meant when she said to him what he had, but it bothered him that she hadn't boarded any public transportation. He said it anyway because he didn't want Reid to know he was worried or doubtful.

"Well then I guess we better hope Hotch convinces J.J. to come with me, because if we don't find her first, I don't know that we're going to see her again." He couldn't divert from the nagging feeling. All he could do now was wait, so with that in mind, he sat himself down at the visitor's side of Hotch's desk, taking a pen out of his holder and tapping it on the desk. Just like that, the rest of the team split, unable to handle the annoying sound any longer, and leaving Reid in a metaphorical darkness of the unknown to wallow in reality that he had been smacked with his own feelings. And boy did it hurt.


	5. Chapter 5

_Hey all. I worked and reworked this chapter to fit my original vision for it, and then I wondered if I was truly happy with it. However, as you all may have imagined, this chapter deals with JJ, who I have, up until this point, yet to write. I hope you all understand where I was going with this, considering the dwindling relationship between JJ and Reid mentioned in the last chapter proceeding her departure from the BAU, as well as the overall view of the situation that they are now put it. Comments, constructive criticism and the like are welcome. If you don't like it, definitely speak up. I have a fear which is hopefully unprecedented, but may not be, that JJ isn't coming across the way I want her to. Also, I realize the December euphoria has worn off and people are still thinking this is a Christmas story. What are your thoughts on me changing the name of this story, or possibly taking down this chapter and the last one, and reposting them as a new story so people don't still think it's a Christmas story? As always, thank you for reading and you all own my heart!_

_SSAJane – Thanks for the review! I actually had not a clue where I was taking this story, and then BAM, I just started writing and this idea came about. I know it's a little unsuspected, but I have an overall view of where I'm going with this. I just need to fill in the middle and hope it's as sweet as icing. Yes, that could win for the worst analogy ever. I, too, do not like Strauss. I was struggling to write her as the miserable grouch that she, but still allow her to show her human side by being forced to bend to comply to FBI rules. Thank you for your feedback on how I wrote her! It helps me to become a better writer and I am so appreciative for that! _

_Emmiecat – Thanks for the review! Aww, thank you for noticing the story in the first place! I'm starting to think I should change the name of it, because I think everyone's over the December euphoria. Thank you for liking Melinda. She's the most unique character I've done in a fan-fiction and I was wondering how she was going to go over! I'm sorry that it takes me a little longer to update. I am oddly ridiculous about how long it takes me to write a chapter until I'm happy with it. Thank you for reading! _

Chapter 5

Not Like You

The summer sun was already beginning to set by them time Reid was able to charter a passenger plane for Colorado, JJ at his side. An already awkward situation was made more awkward by the mass public that was surrounding them. The BAU jet was being used by the rest of the team, so for now, for this flight, there was nothing special about the pair. They were just civilians.

The two had the luck of flying Southwest Airlines, where they were able to seat themselves next to each other. However, for JJ, it wasn't feeling much like luck. She and Reid had driven to the airport separately, as she had to go home and pack a go bag first, something she hadn't needed since leaving the BAU. Since her arrival at the airport, Reid had helped her with her bags, but hadn't said much to her other than the required pleasantries. She wondered if that would change soon. She wasn't used to Reid being so quiet around her, and she knew she had really done it this time.

As the plane began to level out against the sunset, JJ could no longer take the silence. She couldn't spend hours on a plane in silence. If she didn't break ground with him now and clear the air, time would be spent working against each other, and that's not what she sacrificed her critically needed personal time to do. Part of her knew she had only done so because she felt she owed Reid, and this was her way of making up the time she had spent leaving him out of her life. She had done it with good intentions, but Reid wasn't the same kid who joined the BAU years ago, and she hadn't given him enough credit. He could have handled having a relationship with her after her forced departure, just like everyone else, but she never gave him the chance.

"So Hotch didn't really tell me much about the case we're going out on. Maybe you could brief me." As soon as the overhead light had gone off, Reid reached in his bag under the seat and pulled out a folder, going through it. It was one he was still trying to put together, knowing he needed an official case file on Melinda for the case to be taken seriously. JJ saw her opportunity to break the ice.

"There's not a lot to brief you on. It's a missing persons case." His voice was cold, but his actions colder, as handed JJ the folder harsher than intended. He has no plans to brief her, and JJ took the hint, but she wasn't going to spend the case being counterproductive. It ended here.

"Hotch told me the person missing was your friend, and that she hadn't officially been reported missing. I'm confused as to why we're going out on a case we haven't been invited into." JJ would do anything for Reid; that wasn't the issue here. It was just that she had spent several years of her life as a liaison and she knew how the FBI worked. She needed to know the specifics of how this became a case in order to properly assist Reid in whatever was going on.

"So I guess it's okay when you take cases without being invited in, but I can't do it. You're not with the team anymore, JJ. And not that it should matter, but Chief Strauss gave me permission to look into this." His voice was sharp, hurtful. Now he had lost his folder to JJ, who was trying to look through it and ignore his piercing bitterness. He was planning on finishing putting it together on the plane, just to make the suits happy.

"When did I ever take a case without being invited in first?" JJ took offense to this. She had always been meticulous with her job, following orders to a tee. Sometimes she had her little squabbles over something she believed in, but in the end she was always able to give the bureau due cause for why a case was taken. She had never gotten in trouble once.

"In May of 2008, when you had four of us and Garcia working on the Keri Derzmond case. If I remember correctly, she came to you and you contacted the police department to alert them that you wanted permission to enter the case. Your job was to take cases we were already invited into, not to invite us into cases because you took a personal attachment to the victim." Immediately, JJ's first reaction was to defend herself and reiterate the situation to Reid, mostly because he had been so willing to work the case when asked. She knew, however, that with his eidetic memory he remembered the case better than she most likely did, and questioning the situation, defending herself, or generally putting up any kind of guard wasn't going to help.

It was time for her to put her pride aside, something she used to know how to do better, before the Pentagon had hardened her and made her hide her secrets and protect herself from her colleagues. This was Reid, not some big time politician with no scruples, and he normally wasn't like this. There was a reason he was acting out against someone he was once so close to. He had always been on her side. He wasn't cutthroat like the Pentagon. He just simply had his guard up with her, and she knew it had to be her own fault. He never reacted like this without reasoning, and she never expected he'd do it with her. She laid her armor down and tried to go at him with a different approach.

"Whoa, Reid, I'm only here to help you. I'm just trying to get all the facts straight so I can do that to the best of my ability. I gave up my personal time to help you." JJ wanted him to understand she that she was here because she wanted to be, but Reid took this a whole different way. She should have known.

"No one asked you to." Reid clicked his pen, having pulled a notebook out of his bag just moments ago, and prepared to write, never looking over at her.

"Actually, Hotch did." JJ's voice was soft, but defiantly confident. She wasn't going up against him, but she wanted to reiterate the facts.

"He shouldn't have." Reid began to write, trying to ignore the problem in front of him. If you would have told him when she left the team that he would later find himself disgruntled about working with her, he wouldn't have believed you. He should have been looking at this in perspective, that he wouldn't have been allowed on the case had JJ not come with him, but in truth he would have gone on his own anyway, bureau permission or not. He had vacation days.

"Reid, talk to me." She sighed, getting nowhere. She tried again with yet a new approach. "Spence, I'm still the same JJ. You can still talk to me."

JJ put her hand gently on Reid's arm, forcing him to stop what he was trying to write and look over at her. This may be the only chance she had to let him know the real reason she was here, and that she was still on his side. "I'm here because I want to be, not because Hotch asked me to. It was still my decision. You know I would do anything for you."

"Then why didn't you tell me?" Reid caved, pointing to her stomach, sounding more hurt than angry.

"Is that what this is about?" JJ removed her arm from Reid's, taking her hand and putting it over her stomach in a protective manner, like she was shielding it from the argument that she was trying to keep from erupting.

"I'm the godfather of Henry and you couldn't even tell me you were pregnant again? How far along are you? Are you even allowed to fly?" Once the flood gates were open, Reid let the questions fly. There were no secrets anymore, no more brooding necessary. She knew he was hurt. She may not be a profiler, but she could read Reid well enough once he let his guard down a little.

"I'm almost six months through, and I'm fine to fly as long as I'm not too close to my due date or having a troubled pregnancy. Remember how I still flew out on cases with the team the last time I was pregnant? In fact, I think this baby likes flying. She's kicking. Here, feel." JJ took Reid's hand in hers, bringing it to her stomach. He made a face and pulled away. "Oh, come on, Spence. Pregnancy is a beautiful thing. One day you're going to meet a great girl who is going to want kids, and you're going to want to feel her stomach all the time."

"I don't think so." Reid went back to writing on his pad of paper, not thrilled that JJ was treating him like a child, like she was giving him a lesson in something.

"You don't think you'll find a great girl who wants to have kids, or you don't think you'll want to feel her stomach all the time?" JJ smiled, glad to have Reid back in some sort of way. She remembered how he was through the first pregnancy, and she always got a kick out of how squeamish the whole thing made him. He could touch a dead body and inspect it with his face only inches away, but pregnancy he could not handle.

"Both." He shrugged, like he thought this to be a fact, realizing he wasn't going to get any writing done like he had intended as long as JJ was there to interrogate him. He put his pad and paper away.

"Spence, look at me." JJ grabbed for his hand again, making him turn his head and look at her. She waited until his initial look of anxiety went away before speaking. "What is going on with you?"

"Nothing. I'm fine." He answered her curtly, trying to pull his hand from hers. She held on tight, yanking it back. This is where she could use Morgan to diffuse him. This is also when she realized that she didn't know how to diffuse him when he got like this. She had always relied on Morgan, and if he was going to be like this the whole case, she was becoming vastly concerned about how this case was going to go.

"You're not fine. I've known you for too long for you to be able to pull that card with me." JJ sighed, not wanting to start an argument with the good doctor, but also not understanding why he was so vehement on shutting her out. It hurt.

"You haven't gone out of your way to talk to me like you have the other team members since you left. I could have changed. You don't know that I haven't." He yanked is hand away from her again, and this time she let him go just so he knew he wasn't trapped with her. He could still move about, be himself, but she was right there, and he wasn't getting out of this one without some explanations.

"I also know that's not all that this is about." If it were, she knew he would speak his piece with her. But that was something personal, darker. She was going in completely blind on this case. She didn't need to be going in blind on Reid's emotions.

"No, you don't." The way he turned to look out the window, unable to face her when he said this, told her she was right. He may be able to keep a poker face during Vegas table games, but not when it came to how he felt.

"Spence...you either talk to me or I hop on the first plane home after we land, and enjoy my two weeks of much needed rest." JJ would never do that to him, but she was giving him an ultimatum, the last resort she could possibly think of.

"Fine. Good luck getting a plane home." Reid began to fidget, reaching for his bag again in hopes of finding something to occupy himself with to make it look like he was as cold and distant as he was acting. He knew he wasn't a good actor.

"Spence, what the matter with you? You've never argued with me about anything before." She reached over quickly, taking his bag out from between his hands before he had a chance to get a good grasp on it, and setting it under her legs. He would never go after it there.

"As the old adage goes, there's a first time for everything." He crossed his arms, pouting like only Reid could do, without making it look like he was two. He was brooding, and it would be a lie if JJ said she didn't find it slightly amusing.

"Are you really that mad at me? Because this just doesn't seem like you." She tried the next thing she knew to do when her previously thought out last resort didn't work. She cornered him in a literal and proverbial way. He couldn't get out around her, and he couldn't avoid this question for long.

"Yes and no. I'm mad you didn't tell me you were pregnant. I'm angry that you made the rest of the team keep it from me. Don't try and tell me they didn't know. Emily said she had lunch with you last weekend, and Hotch was aware you were going to be in the building today. What else don't I know?" When cornered, Reid had the capability to lash out. It wasn't something he had taken to doing with JJ, but he felt he had no other choice but to throw this on her to hide his own vulnerabilities.

"So that's the yes part. What's the no?" JJ was quick with her thinking. That was the problem Reid faced; she knew him too well. She knew what to listen for that others would pass up. You learn that spending years over a round table with a group of profilers.

"I don't particularly want to work with you on this case. It's no offense to you." His voice was void of any obvious emotions. He felt bad saying that to JJ, but it was the truth. It was what she was asking for.

"Well, offense taken. I can sit here and try to get you to understand why I've left you out of my life, as unfair as I admit it is, but you're still going to be cranky. There's still something else going on." Everything she said thus far he had deflected. If you didn't know him, you wouldn't even know he was doing it. She saw through him.

"I'd like to see you try to explain it to me, at least. I think I deserve that." JJ caved, hoping if she gave him what he wanted, if she went head to head with him on all his deflections, that he'd run out of things to ask her, or ways to throw this conversation back at her, and he would have to tell her what was going on with him. Ironically, all she was left with in this fight was process of elimination.

"You do." JJ reached her arm out, laying it gently on Reid's, careful not to grab onto it, but just to let him know she was there, she was gentle, and she wanted to talk. For the first time that day, he actually looked her in the eyes. "Spence, when I told you and the team that I had been transferred, you were on the verge of tears."

"I was not." And that ended that seemingly touching moment. He didn't rip his arm away from her that time, but he turned his head and pretended that the friendly skies were his best friend.

"Wow, denial really isn't just a river in Africa." JJ mumbled to herself, trying to add something to this conversation so that she didn't emotionally collapse in all her pregnant glory. Reid must have heard her, because when she looked over, he was looking at her again. She knew this was her chance to continue. "Your reaction was the hardest for me. You were the one who was the hardest for me to leave. I've watched everything you've gone through, and I liked to think that, in my own way, I was able to take care of you with a woman's touch, something that Morgan couldn't give you. It was my fault you were kidnapped, and...I just always wanted to make that up to you by never leaving you again. I promised you I wouldn't, and then I had to. I worried about you when I left. I thought about calling you a hundred times just in the first week to see how you were."

"Then why didn't you?" The tone in Reid's voice finally changed. He sounded desperate now, confused. He wasn't trying to hide his vulnerability by putting up walls of bitter cold ice.

"Because I knew why it was so hard on you that I left. Spence, I know I meant more to you than just a friend would. I know how you felt about me, at least at one time in your life." JJ hated to bring this up, but she felt the only way for him to understand her point of view was to put things out in the open.

"I never tried to hide it from you. Actually, I did, but I knew I wasn't any good at hiding things, so I figured everyone knew." Just like that, Reid's voice changed again. JJ instantly regretted bringing up what she had, but she knew it had to be dealt with at some point. They were trapped together on a plane, there was nowhere to run. The time was now.

"Spence, please stop interrupting me and listen. I'm trying to teach _you_ something for once." She carefully moved her hand down his arm, putting it in his as if he were a child she was trying to comfort. Reid immediately felt this, but as much as he wanted to detest it, he couldn't. She was his first real crush, the first person of whom he felt anything with. No matter how hard he tried, he still held on to that. She was the first girl that was truly nice to him. "I didn't keep in contact with you like I should have, because every time I picked up the phone to call you, or I scrolled across your name in my contacts, I kept picturing the look on your face when you knew I was leaving, and the look on your face as I walked away from the team for the last time, and I knew I never wanted to upset you like that again. I was afraid that every time I called you, you were just going to go back to that day. I know goodbyes are hard for you, and I didn't want you to have to keep saying goodbye to me every time we hung up the phone and I didn't show up for work the next morning. I told the rest of the team not to say anything to you about me because all I could imagine was you and that face, that sweet, little, sad face. It hurt me too much to know that I could hurt you like that, directly or indirectly, and especially when I know you'd never say it, but I did once before already."

"It was one date, and I didn't even set it up, Gideon did." JJ didn't say how she knew she hurt him, but the way that Reid jumped to that so quickly let her know that she had been right for all of those years. As much as he acted like her not wanting to see him romantically again was fine, it had stung.

"It was one date that didn't work out the way you wanted it to, and it was my fault, because I didn't feel the same way for you. I wanted to, trust me I wanted to, but I just didn't. Then you were stuck working with me every day and pretending like it was fine." Reid looked away from her again, even taking back his hand. This was something he didn't want to hear, but she was going to make him anyway. "Do you want to know why I made you Henry's godfather? I could have picked anyone, like Hotch, who already had a son and experience with kids, or Prentiss, who wants to have her own kid one day, but I picked you for a reason."

"I thought you were just being nice." He turned his head back to her, his voice on the edge of snapping, but lightly dipping its feet into his normal demeanor, caught between a world of feelings.

"No. I'm nice about a lot of things, but not when it comes to who takes care of my child. I want the person, or the people, who would do the best job and keep him safe. And I knew you would do that. Out of anyone on the team, I knew that, no matter what happened, if I needed you that you would drop everything for me, and because of that I knew you would do the same for my son. You always wanted to protect me, and I have no doubt it would be the same with Henry. That's part of the reason I'm here, actually, instead of resting from being pregnancy exhaustion. I wanted to show you that I would do anything for you, too. Even though I can't find it in myself to pick up and call you all the time in fear of hurting you, I'm here when it counts. I always will be." JJ expected this to be a moment when most people would hug, but Reid being Reid would at least cave and they'd go on to work the case on a lighter note. It didn't work out for her.

"And I appreciate that, but for all the reasons previously mentioned I think it would have been better if you weren't the one assisting me on this case." Reid was touched by what she had to say, but JJ was in the back of his mind now, at least his feelings for her were, and he wanted her to know that. He was just angry that, as a friend, she hadn't been honest with him. It took a few minutes of silence, but it finally occurred to JJ what was going on.

"Oh my gosh, you like her. The girl we're looking for, you like her." It all fit. The way Reid was acting and the reason he didn't want her on the case, it made sense now. Part of it was about her not telling him she was pregnant, or keeping in touch, which she knew, but he never reacted like that unless something was deeply personal to him. Having feelings for someone would be considered personal, especially for Reid, who didn't find someone to connect with often.

"This isn't about me." Immediately he blew off her notion, but he didn't deflect it this time. She had answered all of his questions and now he had nowhere left to go.

"This is your case and your friend. This is about nothing but you." JJ took her hand and pushed his arm playfully. That was really the only way to deal with Reid when he became uncomfortable like this.

"This is about Melinda, and if you're not going to take the case seriously, then I'd rather you get on a plane an go back home. I'll use my personal time to investigate this myself. I don't need the bureau." JJ laughed lightly at his indignation. If that were the case, that's what he'd be doing. And then something else hit her.

"Oh, Spence, that's why you don't want me here. You're afraid she'll see that you have or had feelings for me, and she'll think something is going on between us. That's it, isn't it?" She spoke quickly, her voice getting more excited than she wanted it to, but it wasn't often that she got to tease Reid about a girl. In fact, she never really got to when there was an actual girl at the other end. She was trying to pass up the opportunity, but being as close to him as she was, even he couldn't resist.

"No! What? That's ridiculous." His voice was bewildered, too bewildered and too high pitched. She had him now.

"No it's not. You like her and you don't want her to know you once liked me. You want her to know you're single." She continued to poke at him in jest. He knew that, but he was still determined to lie about it.

"I don't." He put his hands up, spreading them out as if he were asking her to stop, as if his hands were doing the denying for him.

"I can't believe you're lying to me right now." JJ looked right at him, letting him know he was full out caught. She thought she was one of the last people who he'd lie to about a woman, especially because he had once liked her and she was now taken. She thought he'd want her to know he had moved on, to gloat a little bit.

Even though it wasn't his style, every guy had it in him somewhere, and Reid was still very much a guy.

"I'm not." He caught himself talking with his hands again and put them down, pretending like he had not just been doing that. He tried to cover it up by playing cool, but by now he knew the people across the aisle even knew he liked someone. They were staring. Had he spoken more quietly and less high pitched in his attempt to cover up his lies, they wouldn't be.

"Does she like you back?" JJ smiled, her voice hopeful. Now that she had him right where she wanted him, she wanted to see what else she could dig out of him about this girl, because she wanted to know how to treat her when they found her. If wasn't an option. If Reid liked someone, she was going to find her and try to gently talk her Reid's way, and that's all there was to it.

"What? I don't know. How am I supposed to know that?" His voice became high pitched again, and loud. The people in front of them turned around this time to stare. His lying was drawing an audience.

"Does she call you for no reason?" JJ ignored their little audience, severely regretting that they had not the jet to take to this case. If Reid kept this up, he'd be the first FBI agent to get kicked off a plane for causing a ruckus. Either that, or everyone would be involved in his love life. Flying was quite boring for the normal population.

"No. She calls me because she wants me to make sure I didn't get kidnapped again." This was perfectly logical to him, although he had already gone through this with Prentiss. It didn't matter. He'd believe what he wanted to believe.

"Uh huh. So she calls you for no reason. Do you let her call you Spencer?" JJ was racking up his responses, adding points to her liking him and also to him liking her. She was keeping those points in her mind for later use.

"Yes, but only because she saved my life. She kicked my kidnapper's...rear end." This was something JJ had not heard about. She almost expected that someone would tell her something this pertinent. However, she assumed they were all waiting for Reid to tell her since his being kidnapped before was something she always had, and would forever blame herself for. In which case, she deserved not to be told by any of the other team members. It served her right.

"Oh, she saved your life after you were kidnapped again. You miss a lot being absent from the team. So what else don't I know about this mysterious woman that's captured Dr. Reid's heart.?" She slid in the last part, seeing if he would deny it. He didn't.

"Nothing. She owns a bar in Colorado and it burned down, so we're just going to make sure she's okay." JJ knew the truth know, even though she had to be sneaky to get him to admit it. Reid was horrible at denying things, but even worse at catching and pulling out subtleties hidden in sentences, and then defending them.

"Why would you think she wasn't?" Finally, JJ had gotten him to a headspace where she was able to pull important case information out of him. So far it wasn't a lot, but it was more than she had previously. She would take what she could get.

"Because she was homeless for several years prior to working at the bar, so the bar was all she had. Since it's gone and her phone has been disconnected, I'm worried she's living on the streets again. It's also possible she was coming to me, though." Reid started spilling information without even realizing he was doing it. JJ suddenly felt better in her ability to calm him and get him to purge information the way Morgan knew how. Now she knew his secret was just to trick Reid's analytical mind by hiding what you really wanted to know in deceiving sentences. Gosh, this was exhausting.

"What makes you think that?" JJ reached under her seat and past Reid's bag, trying to be as subtle as she could about pulling out a pen and paper from her purse. She wanted to take notes for the case since she knew nothing about this girl, but she didn't want Reid to notice that he was finally talking about the case, because she was afraid if he did that he would stop and go back to being snarky. She couldn't take Reid that way. It was just to weird and off color for him.

"She said if she needed something she would come to me, which is something she's never said before." Reid was still proverbially scratching his head over this, mostly because he was upset that he had not been the one to catch that. Had it not been for Morgan, he wouldn't have taken a second thought to her change in wording. Sometimes the smartest people missed the most obvious things, especially when there were feelings involved.

"No, I mean why would she come to you specifically?" This would be a prudent piece of information for not only the case, but for JJ's wonderment in how much this girl actually had an interest in Reid. It was a win / win kind of question.

"I guess because I'm the only one she has. I'm the only person who she has to talk to. She's told me that before." Reid thought about this as he was answering, his mood changing, something coming over him that allowed his speech to slow. You could tell it was now that he truly realized the severity of the conversation, when he finally stopped thinking of it in context and saw all angles of how sad it really was.

"Oh, has she?" JJ raised an eyebrow, staring Reid down without meaning to. She had this little grin on her face, one that was happy that little Dr. Reid was finally going to become a man if they found this girl, because she must have liked him an awful lot to save his life, yet still become dependent on him.

"Yes. Why are you looking at me like that?" Reid turned to look at her just in time to see the look on her face. His expression became worried and he wasn't so sure he wanted to be sitting next to her on a plane anymore. That look, quite frankly, was disturbing, at best.

"No reason." JJ laughed to herself and then turned her head to face forward, teasing Reid like she so missed doing since leaving the BAU. She secretly hoped no one had taken her place in politely harassing him, because she didn't think he'd take as well to it as he did with her, and no one could be angry with a pretty girl using a sing-song voice to playfully pick on you. "Somebody likes Spencer. He likes her back."

"Stop it. I do not. I'm just doing this because she saved my life. It's called transference..." Feeling a useless rant of lies coming on, JJ unapologetically interrupted him.

"Don't explain transference to me unless you're willing to admit feelings after that." She still had that stupid little look on her face that Reid hated oh so badly, which made him even more unwilling to admit a thing. Really, the only thing he could admit was defeat, because he already knew he didn't lie or hide things well.

"There's no feelings there for either of us, and especially not with me. This is strictly business." The people in front of Reid and JJ turned around again to look at them. Instead of glaring at them and telling them to keep their voices down, the woman actually seemed to find their conversation entertaining. JJ couldn't blame them, and if she could help it, she was going to make it a lot more entertaining, while having a little more fun at his expense. She wanted him to be happy with someone who wanted to make him happy, since she couldn't be that person.

"Then why do you keep fixing your hair?" The entire time they had been talking directly about Melinda, Reid kept running his hands through his hair, which had grown long again. That was not like him.

"Because she hasn't seen it long yet, and if we find her I don't want to make a bad impression." JJ raised her eyebrows at him again, increasing the look that disturbed Reid ever so much. She heard the lady in front of them chuckle, and she had no doubt that it was over their conversation.

"Since when does someone who spends more time organizing his desk than getting ready in the morning care about how he looks?" Reid was always the last one up in the mornings on cases, but the first one ready. She knew for a fact he threw himself together. It's not that he looked bad, or had bad hygiene, but he also didn't worry about if every hair was in place, or which sweater vest best complimented his skin tone.

"I care! I've always cared!" He said this with so much exuberance, like he had taken major offense to it. Now that the other half of the plane that had not previously been subjected to his lies knew he was there, it was safe to say they'd be lucky to get to their destination without him receiving a verbal warning from a probably gorgeous flight attendant, and he'd never even notice her looks.

"Okay, Loverboy. I believe you." JJ brought her finger up to her mouth, talking quietly, while giving him an animate warning to hush up to drive the point home.

"You're lying! Why is it so hard to believe that I just want to look nice to make a good impression only because I'm a federal agent and it's the professional thing to do." At first he didn't take the hint. JJ eyed the passing stewardess, but she stayed mum. It was possible even she was amused by this.

"Because that's not you, Dr. Reid." JJ reached over and put her hand on his, which was now in his lap. She was careful where she placed it, although she didn't know that he'd really think anything of it. She was hoping, however, that it would be enough to quiet him down, and when he seemed to not have a thing to fight back with, she tried a different approach. "So, she hasn't seen your hair long yet?"

"No. Do you think she'll like it?" Removing his hand from under JJ's, he reached up and played with it again.

"Ah ha!" This time it was JJ that drew the attention of the people around them and the stewardess. Since she had not been the amusing party in this, she was the one who received a verbal warning. Once the stewardess walked away, she took her own advice and took a different approach to her own responses. "If she's smart she will. You're a good guy. Plus, I think the longer hair is sexy."

"You do?" Reid stopped playing with his hair, looking at her as if to indicate that he was wondering if she was hitting on him. Most would know she was married and that wasn't true, but that wasn't how Reid's mind worked. No one threw words like sexy out around him, so he was destined to take it wrong. She realized this nearly immediately and combatted it with the only thing she had left to do; embarrass him.

"Oh, definitely. I know you have a lot to learn about love, but a girl can work with that when you're alone." He squirmed to the left, he squirmed to the right, he looked away from her as his face turned eight different shades of red since he knew she wasn't going to take him to bed, and a crisis was promptly averted.

"I...I don't want to have this conversation with you." He wasn't sure he wanted to have it with anyone, but he was particularly uncomfortable having it with JJ on a crowded plane, where he had no escape route if it became too much for him.

"I'll make you a deal. We won't have this conversation if you brief me on the case. I need to know everything, including how she saved your life, because I'm all you have right now. If she's out there somewhere alone, it's imperative that we find her as soon as possible, and that's what I'm here to help you do." Although Reid had begun to touch on the case, it had quickly gone wayward. She had not given up her much needed rest to chase a ghost, so she wanted everything he had and nothing less would do. If she had anything to do with it, she'd have Reid facing his own feelings in the form of a very unsorted girl in no time flat.


	6. Chapter 6

_Thank you all for being so amazingly patient with me between updates. I promise I am working really hard to bring you all the best story that I can, and that I'm not neglecting this story when the updates or slow. Hospital visits will do that to a girl. This chapter starts to set up something that's going to become apparent as the story goes on, and also bring it together at the end. I have a rough outline of where I'm going with this, but it's still a little sketchy, so bear with me while I figure it all out, and speak up if you don't like something. I promise this is leading up to something big, but with a little bit of a more personal twist. Thank you for reading, and you all own my heart._

_lolyncut – Thanks for the review! I shall continue indeed :)! Thank you for requesting that I do. _

_Noskilz – Thank you for the review! Thank you very much for your kind words! They are appreciated. I quite enjoy your username, by the way._

_Danicalif80 – Thanks for the review! I really love how you explained the role reversal. It made my day. Plus, I immediately pictured Reid wearing one of those tall, pointy princess hats with the long, flowing silk on the back of them. It was pink, in case you were wondering. I am totally going into this story thinking about princesses and fairy tale endings, and even with the proposed ending I have in mind, I still imagine Reid being the one wearing the princess hat. I think Melinda would refuse it and grab a beer instead. Seriously, you made my day._

**Chapter 6**

**Troubling Behavior**

By the time the plane landed, Reid was already trying to act as if he wasn't as tired as he actually was, but JJ couldn't waste the energy. She was half asleep, between the pregnancy hormones and the hour of night they were coming up on. The change in time zones hardly helped the situation, adding a few more hours to her already stressed day. She didn't know how much longer she could keep going, but she had done it before, and she would continue to do it for Reid. She didn't want to let him down again. She already felt as if she had done that enough, and she didn't want another incident on her hands, only for the case to be focused on.

The circumstances being as they were, the royal FBI treatment was not available. Although the FBI had approved the case because of a loophole and the situation, it truly was not a team effort when it came down to it. It was constricted only to the interpersonal workings of the BAU and their extended family in JJ. Enter the commercial plane and the lack of a government vehicle waiting for them when they got arrived, but Reid knew the second had been true the first time as well, having only transportation awaiting to take them to and from the airport. All of that being as it may, it was just Reid and JJ, and even in their exhaustion, they were well aware of that.

JJ fell asleep in the car not long after departing from the airport, making a rarity out of letting Reid drive, and being comfortable with it on top of it. She couldn't help herself in every literal sense. Her condition wouldn't allow for it.

She woke up just inside the town limits of their destination, groggy, reaching her for water in the center console. She noticed that Reid hadn't flinched long enough to notice she had awoken, his eyes intent on the road, and she almost thought she caught a glimpse of sadness in them, but she couldn't be sure.

"Spence." She reached her hand out, gently touching his shoulder. At first he didn't hear her, so it took her another time of calling his name to shake him out of whatever trance he was in. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I was just wondering if you had made us any hotel reservations."

"Ah, no, I haven't. I didn't even think about it. I'm sorry." Reid was still trying to focus on his own issues when he answered her, his voice becoming a little desperate as he apologized, realizing all the things JJ had to do before, and all the things he didn't know how to do, or didn't think of.

"It's okay. I'll make some phone calls...as soon as I can get some cell service out here." JJ held the phone up to the roof of the car, and she even thought about opening the window and holding it out there to see if she got service, but then she realized there was no way she could hold it out there and also talk on it, so it was useless.

"It's a little spotty out here. It will work fine in town. We'll almost there. It's just around this..." JJ looked up from trying to spot service on her phone, as Reid stopped talking.

"Spence?" He began to pull the car to the right, not saying anything, almost fixated. When JJ looked up and saw what was in front of her, she became more worried. "Spence? Spence, what is it?"

"This is Melinda's bar...was Melinda's bar." In front of them sat carnage of the likes JJ had not seen before, not even on the arson cases they had investigated. This was something much worse, nothing but uncleaned ash and stone parking lot as far as the eye could see.

"Wow." JJ wished she had something better to say than that, something helpful, but she regretted to inform herself that she didn't. She felt like she wasn't helping, but it was what came out, and by the time she caught herself, Reid was already making his exit from the car.

JJ got out of the car after him, and looked over at Reid. He stood there at the hood of the car, looking out into the darkness, a somber look across his face. He seemed almost vacant and mannequin like, so still, so quiet. JJ walked over to him, putting her hand on his shoulder again, seeing first hand the emotional toll this was taking on him.

"Spence, are you okay?" He turned his head, looking down at her and trying to pull himself together, but mostly he was just faking it, and to someone who was as familiar with him as JJ, it was obvious.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Even he knew he was lying to himself, and he did a lousy job, but he wasn't in the mood to be corrected. With his defenses up again, it was to be expected.

"What are you looking for?" JJ could tell by the look on his face that he was studying the scene for something specific, possibly because he had been there before. She hadn't, and was unfamiliar with the place, wanting to learn more.

"I don't know yet." He then looked up, past the bar and a little to the right, and then began walking. JJ followed behind him, holding her stomach as she walked, almost as if she was shielding her baby from seeing the useless destruction amongst them.

JJ wanted to ask him where they were going, and why they were passing up the crime scene in front of them, but she knew better. Reid knew what he was doing, what he was looking for, subconsciously, if nothing else. Even though the fire had taken place over a month ago, you could still feel the air of loss, and sense the smell of smoke, even just faintly. It was clear nothing good happened here, and JJ hoped, for Reid's sake, that the person he had truly talked to post the fire was his friend, and not someone pretending to be her.

As soon as they were past the ashes, he drifted through a few trees and exited at a clearing that sat a mere fifty feet from the crime scene. Once there, he stopped and stood, reflecting the same way he had back at the car while looking at what was left of the bar. JJ caught up quickly, and was tempted to interrupt, but considering she felt she had done that enough, she knew he'd explain his temporary silence when he was ready. All she had to do was stand around and wait.

"Jolene's house was here." Reid pointed to the ground, a place that seemed far more cleaned up from the scene of the bar. It was clear that pointing to it was his way of literally pointing that out, both of them finding it odd that the ashes were cleaned up back here, but not at the bar. But that wasn't the only thing that was odd.

"Jolene? The original owner of the bar?" JJ was trying to keep up. He had finally caught her up on the situation while on plane, and she had a chance to read through the original file, but being as she wasn't actually here, there were still parts that were blank for her.

"Yes. Her house was here." He pointed again, as if to drive the point home, but more likely because he couldn't believe a house just up and left with no trace whatsoever. He'd seen a lot of things, but this was a new one.

"Are you sure? You did say that Melinda lived in the apartment connected to the bar, right?" JJ was a little confused in her tiredness, trying to recall everything Reid had said to her on the plane. Unlike him, she didn't have a total recall kind of memory.

"I did. She stayed there because she found Jolene shot on her couch in her house. She was unable to set foot back inside of the house, but I'm sure it was here because she allowed us to stay in it, instead of making us cross town to get to our hotel the night after I was kidnapped." Reid clarified for her, and then started to walk around the outline of where the house was, the only place where the grass hadn't grown nearly a foot high. Now that he was here and saw the damage, his adrenaline was running, and he found himself more awake.

"How does a house just disappear? There's no ashes, so they were either cleaned up, or..." Reid broke in, having come to the same conclusion as JJ.

"The house didn't catch on fire. We've both been all over the police report, and there was no mention of the house burning down, too." His voice wasn't skeptical, but instead confusingly thoughtful. He liked things that were logical, things that made sense, but this just confused him. Houses didn't have legs. Of this he was sure.

"Would Melinda have had it torn down since Jolene had died in it?" This was JJ's way of piecing a few things together. If Reid had explained this to her on the plane, she had forgotten. But Reid had an awful habit of sometimes assuming others knew the facts when they didn't, and this would certainly be one of those times.

"No. In fact, she would have done the opposite. Although she couldn't set foot in that house, she made sure the crime scene team cleaned it, and she had someone come in and keep it clean every few months, and the neighbor kid mowed the lawn. She preserved it as if she were preserving Jolene's memory. This isn't something she would have done. There was also a '57 Impala that Jolene owned. Melinda used to talk about it. She said Jolene would take it into the nearest city when she needed to stock up on supplies for the bar, and it was worth a lot of money. She didn't want to sell it because it was Jolene's baby, but I find it odd that an expensive classic car has also disappeared." Reid bent down to the ground, wiping his fingers across it and looking for any sign of residue that could be left behind after a fire. There didn't seem to be any as far as he could tell, just dirt and bugs.

"Maybe Melinda took it." Reid shook his head, now going to stand in the driveway, like it would help him feel the energy of where the car went or something. Now he had two large objects without legs that seemingly got up and wandered off with no police report given whatsoever.

"No. Like I mentioned on the plane, she can't drive. No one ever taught her, and after everything she's been through, she's not dumb enough to go driving on the roads without a license, and risk being made an example of in the system. In fact, she never even switched the car's registration to her name after Jolene's death. Besides that, the keys to the car were in Jolene's house. She wouldn't have gone in there to get them, and I'm fairly certain she has no idea how to hot wire a car." Reid paused for a second, running back a few things he knew about Melinda in his head, confirming to himself the last sentence he had said.

"Just fairly?" He nodded, looking up at her.

"Yes." As soon as he said that, he looked away, as if it were the most normal thing, and went back to trying to survey the scene in the dark.

"Okay. That's not disturbing whatsoever." JJ turned from him, talking to herself and feeling the baby kick just after she finished, almost as she found her mom's sarcastic humor funny. This baby wasn't even born yet, and she was already bound to give Reid a hard time. JJ could live with that.

"What did you say?" JJ shook her head, smiling to herself. Of course Reid would hear that, when he was often oblivious to everything else around him. Her face changed to one of slight panic when she realized he was staring at her, waiting for her to answer with something.

"Maybe we can solve this together." It was stupid, but the best she had. She hadn't, however, counted on Reid's reaction.

"Are you okay?" Because what she said seemed to make nearly zero sense considering they were there to solve a case together, Reid worried that she was not feeling well. Maybe the flight had been too long. Maybe she was just tired. She was usually much quicker with her words than that, though, rarely stating the obvious.

"Yeah, I'm just tired, you know, with the baby and all." She put her hand on her stomach again, this time finding no reason to make anything up. Although it wasn't what made her say what she had, it was the truth and it worked here.

"Oh, right. I'm sorry. I should be taking better care of you. We can do this in the morning. We'll be able to see better, anyway. I just got sidetracked." He instantly felt bad dragging JJ around at this hour of the night in her condition. He hadn't meant to, but once he caught site of the bar, the damage far worse than he thought, unbelieving that there was nothing left but ashes, he had to stop. There was something within him that controlled him, that made him pull over before his sensibility kicked in.

"It's fine. You're doing what we came here to do, and you don't have to take care of me. I'm a big girl and I'm fine, but thank you." JJ's words meant no ill will and were soft. Reid knew that, but he still felt bad about the situation, coming up beside her and placing his hand on her back.

"Come on. Let's go find ourselves somewhere to stay so the two of you can get some rest." Reid would forever be somewhat protective of JJ. He had lost his head for a few minutes, but looking at her and the way she held onto her stomach put things into perspective for him.

"Will and I have been thinking about names for her. I'd really like your opinion on a few, if you'd be okay with that." JJ knew Reid was bothered, it was evident in his eyes. Knowing she was the one taking him away from a crime scene he'd otherwise spend all night staring at, nothing making more sense until daylight approached, she tried to change the subject, making him feel needed in another way.

"Of course." They continued through the lone trees, until their feet met the parking lot again. As they walked, JJ could tell she was leading them, as his eyes were right back on the wreckage. He was wondering what kind of accidental fire would burn hot enough to melt everything in its path, including the appliances.

"What do you think about..." Reid's eyes shifted forward as he heard something in the distance, near where they had parked their rental. Something didn't feel right, so he cut JJ off mid sentence.

"Just hold on one minute. JJ, stay here. Here's my gun, just in case. You're a better shot than I am. If something looks off, don't hesitate, just shoot." Reid removed his gun from the holster and handed it to her. He knew he was walking up to the stranger in the car alone, unarmed, but he knew how JJ had shot James Baylor after he tried to murder Penelope, and that she had it handled. He knew most likely he was being over pretentious, but he didn't want to go in unarmed, not in this town; not after what had happened to him.

JJ was left behind him to stand in the shoes of confusion, wondering why he was so upset over a car pulling in next to theirs. Sure, it was suspicious, but that's when it hit her. Nothing about this crime scene wasn't, leading Reid to believe they had stepped into something much worse than they thought, and someone was here to control that. In all of that, and all of his excuses, he also knew JJ no longer carried a weapon around on a regular basis now that she was with the Pentagon, and although she did have the best shot, he also gave her his gun to assure that she could protect her baby and herself.

"Excuse me, this is private property. You can't be here. I'm going to have to escort you off of the property." A voice rang out through the night, but it was one Reid immediately recognized, although the car was unfamiliar to him at first, and in the dark. Once he got closer to the man, he saw he was in civilian clothing, and most likely driving his civilian car as well, being off duty.

"Sheriff Cauruthers? It's Dr. Reid from the FBI. I'm sure you remember me. I was the one who got kidnapped while working the serial killer case a year and a half ago. The woman back there is with me. Her name is Jennifer Jureau. She's on loan to the FBI from the Pentagon. You should have received a call from our Section Chief Director Erin Strauss about our coming. We just got into town and were checking out the crime scene." Reid moved closer to the man, taking out his badge to show him, stopping about five feet from him.

"I remember you." The man motioned for Reid to put his badge away, but didn't retreat with his gun, playing into Reid's sense that something was severely off about this. What he said next didn't help. "What makes you think this is a crime scene?"

"When someone is missing, the last place they were seen alive is a crime scene. This also applies to their place of residence or employment, if either had been tampered with, like Melinda's was. Since the bar qualifies as all three, this is where we have to start." Reid threw his defenses back up, going head to head with someone who was formally one of his allies. Having worked with him before, he could tell the difference in the way he was being addressed by Sheriff Cauruthers. He knew he wasn't welcomed here like he had been the first time.

"As I told your superior on the phone, this isn't a missing persons case. Melinda is flighty at best, and bad company at worst. I'm sorry that you've wasted your time." This did nothing but anger Reid. All of the things Melinda had said regarding how the town felt about her were true. Reid never thought she was lying when she said it, but it was another thing to see it first hand.

"Actually, Melinda is a missing person by definition. She is someone who disappeared for no known reason. And in case you forgot, she saved my life that night, while your team got cold and went home." Reid was downright angry now. At the time, he had known the team of police had done all they could for him, but now, thinking back, he became more and more angry about how his team was alone when they found him. Suddenly, just that fast, he wasn't so willing to cooperate with this man.

"We do know the reason she disappeared. Her bar, her home, it burned down. We can't even be sure she didn't perish in the fire." Reid shook his head. It was obvious now more than ever that the police had done nothing to try to find Melinda. They shrugged off the bar burning down, didn't care that she wasn't seen after, and moved on with their day. It was shoddy police work, because regardless of if they like Melinda or not, finding her was still their job.

"Yes, we can, because I spoke with her a few days after the fire. The problem is, our office was unable to locate her past that. This may not be an official case, but we do have bureau permission to investigate it, which is exactly what we're going to do." By this point in the conversation, JJ had made her way to Reid's side. She could see she didn't need to shoot anyone, that Reid was familiar with the person, but that things were getting heated. The feeling of discomfort could be felt in the air all through town, she was sure.

"I'm sorry you feel that way, Dr. Reid. I really am." His whole voice changed, and his actions, too. He seemed to lay down his guard for a moment, meaning in his words, but just as quickly he shifted. This wasn't normal behavior for someone who didn't have something to hide. "I also think you and your friend should come to the station so we can talk."

"With all due respect, she's pregnant and I'd like to get her to a hotel to lie down." Reid deflected this, knowing he would have to come back and they'd have to have a face to face talk eventually, but it wasn't going to be tonight. The sheriff was clearly angry they were there stepping on his toes, and he knew the situation needed to cool before trouble brewed. If things went wayward, it was very possible the police force could take the beanstalk and the pregnant woman without much force, so he chose his battles.

"If you just got in, you can't be staying in town. We're all booked up with tourist season and all." Skeptical, Reid turned to JJ, putting his hand on her back again, as she handed him back his gun to holster, while her hands went back to her stomach. It was obvious to both of them that, no matter the excuse they were given, or if it was true, they weren't wanted there. It was safer and better for them to find accommodations elsewhere.

"That's fine. If you could just point us in the direction of the nearest hotel, we'll meet back up with you at the station at eight am. I'd like to know what happened to Jolene's house and car." The sheriff nodded, agreeing to Reid's terms, which he was thankful for. He was concerned the Sheriff was still going to attempt to drag the two back to the station.

"Go back the way you came about seventy miles. You'll see some of those chain hotels start to pop up along the route the closer you get to the airport. There's nothing closer." Reid stared down the sheriff for a moment, angry, knowing there was no way they were going to be able to make the nearly two hour trek on back roads, many with a speed limit never exceeding thirty five miles per hour, each day, just to investigate that case. Small towns plagued these back roads, and there had to be somewhere else to stay. But Reid didn't argue. He could tell when they weren't wanted.

"Fine. Thank you. We'll see you tomorrow." Reid's voice was cold, anything friendly about it having escaped into the night air. With his hand still on JJ's back, he started to pull her toward him. "Come on, JJ."

JJ was still trying to figure out what was going on and what she had missed, but she doubted she'd find the answers in any file. She got into the car quietly, and cringed as Reid slammed the door. He put his seatbelt on, and watched as she struggled to get hers over her tummy. He reached over, pulling it around her gently and latching it for her. He knew the sheriff wasn't leaving until they did, so he quickly pulled out of the parking lot and began to go back the way they came. No one said anything until Reid pulled the car to the side of the road just outside of the town limits.

"Are you all right? You went from almost catatonic at the scene, to very upset with that sheriff. What...was that all about? I thought you had a good rapport with the police department, what with catching their serial killer and all." Reid shut the car off, sitting back in his seat and calming himself for a second before answering. He was feeling the pressure as everything fell on his shoulders one heavy cement block at a time.

"Oh, they like me just fine. It's Melinda they have something against. She has a sorted past of living on the streets and grifting just to stay alive, and Jolene understood that and took her in. When Jolene died, she left everything to Melinda. Jolene was well loved in town. They thought Melinda had something to do with her death, until the serial killer cropped up that brought us into the case. I wouldn't doubt if one of them didn't set fire to that place." Reid clenched his fists, a reaction that startled JJ. She knew he would never hurt anyone, so she wanted to clarify things, while letting him verbally release the tension that had built up inside of him.

"Wasn't the fire ruled accidental?" JJ turned on the overhead light and began to grab for Reid's bag in the back of the car, wanting to flip through the files one more time to check her facts. Reid turned the light off right away, realizing what JJ was doing, and that there was no way she was going to be able to turn to grab his bag in her position, and that he could answer that question.

"It's a small town, JJ. No one would tell if the fire chief altered those documents. In fact, they were probably all in on it. Did you see Sheriff Cauruthers' face when I told him I had spoken to Melinda post the fire? He was genuinely shocked, as if he had assumed her dead. Why else would he assume that if no one had tried to kill her?" Reid was being irrational, although he'd never see it that way. All he could see was how right he was about all of this, and that the house and the car being gone proved that.

"Whoa, Spence, before you get started on any conspiracy theories, let's just get somewhere so that you can get some sleep and clear your head. We'll come back tomorrow and talk face to face with the sheriff. You're a profiler, so you'll know if he's lying after you ask him everything you want to ask him. Right now, until you can do that, it's not worth getting yourself worked up over." JJ reached her hand over and put it on Reid's arm, rubbing it gently. She felt bad for him. He didn't handle personal situations very well, and she was becoming more and more glad that she was the one there to comfort him through this, since he had always had that special bond with her.

"Thanks, Mom." His voice stayed sarcastic, but his body relaxed a little, knowing JJ was only trying to help. And, as much as he hated to admit it, she probably was right, at least about thinking this over with a clear head. He doubted he'd change his mind, though.

"Anytime. Besides, if you go in there tomorrow with an accusatory tone like that, you know the sheriff is going to be unwilling to work with us. That's the last thing we need. Even if you are suspicious, we have to go in as a friend, not a foe. I'm here to help you, and my speciality just happens to be working as a liaison between the FBI and the police departments, so feel free to use me to your advantage." She nodded her head, trying to get Reid to understand, as he turned to look at her. He nodded back, his silent way of saying he understood. "Good, because we need to focus on finding somewhere to stay. Someone is becoming awfully cranky right now."

JJ put her hand on her stomach, indicating the baby's dislike for her forcing herself to stay awake, stressing out her body and her baby in one.

"What? I'm not that cranky, am I?" JJ laughed, shook her head, and then brought her arm up, balancing it on the door and laying her head into it.

"I meant the baby, Spence, but it could probably apply to you, too." She smiled to herself, knowing Reid would never pick up that she was partially joking, but it amused her.

She lifted her head from her hand, moaning a little to herself in her exhaustion, and tried to reach for her phone that was clipped to her pants with no avail, because of her stomach. She thrashed from side to side, looking much like she would imagine a beached whale to look like. She may have had more luck if she removed her seatbelt, but then she would need Reid to help her get back into it, and that was another feat in itself. Next time she would have to remember to remove her phone from her pants first.

"What are you doing?" Reid hadn't meant it to come out so sharp, only to ask her what he could help her with. He couldn't help if he couldn't figure out if she needed it first. Because of this, he was completely hesitant to ask the next question, fearful about the possible answer, at best. "Are you going into labor?"

"What?" The question threw JJ enough that it took her a minute to even find his naivety funny. When she did, her response came out in partial laughter, and a little bemusement at his expense."No, Spence, I'm trying to get my phone. It's clipped on my pants. Could you give me a hand?"

"Where is it?" His voice was met with sheer resistance. He wasn't good around babies and pregnant people. He learned because of Henry, but kept his distance if he could.

Babies kicking inside of bellies were another story altogether. He remembered how strange it felt when JJ made him touch her stomach the first time she was pregnant. Quite frankly, it grossed him out a little, and that was a feeling he wasn't eager to recreate, although he lived through it when she did eventually manage to coerce his hand onto her stomach on the plane.

"Relax, Spence. It's on the right side of me. You can just get out of the car, walk around, open the door and grab it that way. You don't even have to touch the baby." The pit of his stomach sank when she said this.

Although it was said in normal with JJ playfulness that she had with him, he didn't want her to think that he had anything against her being pregnant, or the baby growing inside of her. Being as that was all she could see in this situation, he found himself making a not so wise decision. Call it one of the perils of a genius, yet one track mind.

"It's okay. I've got it." In a stroke of lunacy, Reid lifted himself out of the seat and reached himself over a very pregnant JJ, wedging himself between her pregnant tummy and the dashboard. He then proceeded to feel around her pants line for the phone.

"Spence, I think it would be best if you just got out..." Reid, in his overzealous state of trying to prove he had this handled, interrupted her, his voice high pitched, determined to finish the half baked plan he had already set in motion.

"I got it! I got it!" He was slightly too excited as he yanked the phone off of her pants. All the situation really did for JJ was cause her consternation.

When Reid got an idea in his head, no matter how poor, it usually didn't end well. She knew nothing sexual was meant by it, but she also felt the baby kick like crazy as his lanky body grazed her stomach, and he struggled to hold himself up in a contortionistic pose that he should probably lead with bragging about when approaching a girl about going steady. A few times she was worried he was going to lose his balance, not being a graceful one to begin with, but when he retrieved the phone, struggled his way back onto his tush, and she realized in what position he was just in, she found herself a little impressed, although she still thought the whole thing was just a little dimwitted.

"That was something. I don't know what, but it sure excited the baby." JJ grabbed Reid's hand quickly, before he could think, and put it on her stomach. "Feel."

She wanted to pretend like this wasn't revenge for scaring the heebie-jeebies out of her, and causing her a little bit of discomfort, but that would just be a lie. She wanted him to feel the baby kick and get just a little grossed out. Maybe she even wanted him to get used to it a little, subconsciously convincing him to want some little geniuses of his own one day. The kind of girl he found himself needing was a sweet, nurturing woman, who understood that he took a bit more care and compassion than other guys, and a whole lot of gentility. Women with that much maternal instinct were the kind that wanted kids. JJ just wanted what was best for Reid, and she was afraid that if he continued to be squeamish and unsure, he would chase the right girl away.

"I don't understand why you always have to do that to me! All I wanted to do was help you get your phone! I don't even know why you need it!" Reid got himself worked up and decided to have a hissy fit mixed with a pity party. JJ decided to chalk it up to him being tired, but she knew better.

"Well, the friendly neighborhood sheriff didn't seem to want to us staying in town, so now we have to find somewhere else to stay." JJ retrieved her phone from Reid's hand by reaching across him and physically taking it from him. He was still a few steps behind after she threw him off with the baby belly.

"No, I got that. It still doesn't explain why you needed your phone." JJ rolled her eyes. Sometimes it was too late at night, and one was just too tired to indulge Reid's lagging deduction skills.

"I am calling Garcia and having her find us somewhere to stay, because we went through enough small towns between here and the airport, that I refuse to accept we have to go the whole way back from where we came from just to find lodging. If anyone could find lodging in the most remote places on the map in the quickest time possible, it would be her." JJ began scrolling through her contacts, looking for Garcia's number. Although it was late and she was on a case in Seattle, she knew she would still answer for her girl, JJ.

"But the sheriff said we had to go back. He said there was nothing closer." Reid was being defiant about this entire thing, taking one word at a time and not using his own judgment. He must have really cared about this girl to develop a skull this thick. He had always been dense, but he seemed to be exceptionally so tonight.

"He was also quick to say their accommodations were all booked up for tourist season. Whether that's true or not, I doubt he would know that off of the top of his head. He made it clear he didn't want us staying in town, and he was obviously trying to dissuade us from looking into this further. He would have told us anything to get us to go home. It's probably for the best anyway, because if one of your crazy conspiracy theories turns out to be true, I don't think it would be safe for us or our case files if we stayed in town. It's better this way." JJ found Garcia's number and was about to hit talk, but Reid had to interrupt her again, not letting her do what she had to do so that the three of them could get some sleep; JJ, baby and Reid.

"You got all of that from what he said? And my theory wasn't that crazy." JJ sighed, exhausted from going round and round with him.

"Okay, Mr. 'evil twin and eviler twin.' And in case you forgot, it is...was my job to call the local departments on their bluff. Aren't you supposed to be the profiler?" She lifted her one hand from her phone, pointing to Reid with a false look of confusion on her face.

"Ha-ha. Just find us somewhere to stay." She mentally threw up her hands, finally getting him to concede, and allow her to do what she had been trying to do before his motormouth tried to catch up with his brain.

"Okay. I thought you said you weren't cranky." JJ used her best "oh gees" voice on Reid, picking on him and his constant contradiction he had been juggling ever since she had reunited with him. He either really liked this girl, or he had lost his marbles and everyone was too kind to tell him.

"I'm not. Just call Garcia." JJ had already initiated the call by the time he had said this, and was now listening to Garcia's ever changing antidote of cheery-happy music of which she much enjoyed.

While JJ waited for Garcia to pick up, and even through her conversation with her, JJ would glance at Reid out of the corner of her eye, trying to figure him out. In the time since she had made her call, Reid had snatched the case files out of his bag from the back, running his fingers down the lines of the page, before turning to the next one too quickly for JJ to keep up. When he finished going through all of them, he started over, adding notes here and there. She had never seen him unnecessarily obsess over something she knew he for sure had memorized, and it was a little troubling.

Even as Garcia put her on hold for a few minutes to work her wonders, just like the one and only wonder girl does, JJ still didn't speak. She pretended to be in the midst of a conversation with Garcia, letting Reid be and seeing what became of it. It was times like now that she wished she would have taken Hotch up on the suggestion to profile, because maybe then she could figure out what it was that was making him so different. Feelings she understood, and maybe this was Reid's way of expressing them, but she didn't like seeing him such a wreck. For tonight, and tonight only, she would tell herself he was just tired, because she couldn't think anymore tonight.

When JJ did finally get off the phone, she was apprehensive to interrupt Reid, but she knew she'd have to if she ever wanted to get any sleep tonight. She went in gently, careful not to startle the thinking creature.

"Spence? Sorry." He was so involved in his own world of paperwork that he jumped. When JJ apologized, and only then, he put down the paperwork and looked at her, a puppy dog look in his eyes. "Garcia found us a room at a privately owned bed and breakfast about five miles from here. There's only one room available, so we're going to have to share, but it should get us far enough out of town to not have to worry about the police there watching our every move, but close enough that we can make the trip back and forth easily."

"Right. Uh, fine. How do we get there?" His brain was scattered, focusing on anything but what she said. If he had, he would have realized he was going to share a room with the woman who once filled a fantasy or two for him, but only in his mind.

"She sent me the coordinates to the bed and breakfast. We'll just program it into the car's GPS and it will tell you where to go." When Reid didn't turn the car back on or put his seatbelt back on, she did what she had been doing all evening, and questioned him. "Spence, are you all right?"

"Yeah. No, I'm fine. I'm...would you mind driving? It's just that I've probably tortured you enough between the treatment I gave you on the plane and my driving. I think it would be better if you drove." JJ didn't want to drive. She wanted to hold her hand on her stomach, rub it, talk to her baby girl, and fall asleep, if only for the few sweet minutes until she got to the bed and breakfast, but something was eating Reid and she had a fierce want to protect the innocence in him, so instead of fighting, she agreed.

"Of course." JJ started to reach her arm over to hold the seat belt with while unclipping it, only it wasn't going so well, and her arms weren't cooperating with her stomach in the way. Reid saw this and realized how selfish he was being.

"I'm sorry, that was rude of me. You're pregnant and tired, and I'm already over here. You would have to unhook your seatbelt, get out, waddle around..." JJ didn't waste a minute cutting in.

"Excuse me, waddle?" She was between being amused and offended. It was late, she was tired, and Reid had just made her into a penguin. It wasn't one of her best days.

"Yeah. It's what pregnant women do, they waddle. Isn't it?" Although JJ barely liked the tone or the way he had taken with her, she tried to understand that whatever Reid was showing on the surface was only a fraction of something that ran far deeper. Some of this may have been about her, but he had some of his own demons that maybe he wasn't even aware of yet, but they were beginning to make themselves known.

"If you're going to drive, Spence, just drive. You don't have the time or the strength to drag yourself out of the hole you're digging." His body language became indignant, like he felt as if he were being told what to do against his will. Even though, he buckled his seatbelt and started the car. "And until you're ready to tell me what else is going on here, I can't help you."

"It's nothing, JJ. My friend is missing. Isn't that enough?" JJ finished programming the GPS, hoping that, as it told Reid where to go, it might inadvertently drown out some of this conversation.

"One would think, but I know you, and there's more to it." He wasn't himself. He hadn't been since they got on the plane.

She was quick to blame herself, but now that they had smoothed out the bump in their road, there was no reason for him to still sporadically present himself this way. It wasn't like him to throw moods like this in the first place, being one person at one minute, and another the next. She didn't want to jump to conclusions, mostly because there were too many to jump to and none that made sense when it came to Reid. He seemed of sound mind, that much was obvious, so she disregarded any thought of him inheriting his mom's disease. What struck her was his worry and concern from his friend that he had expressed over her missing a phone call.

Reid wasn't the type to become attached to people outside of the team, but even then he didn't dwell. It seemed off character for him to become attached to a girl who, although saved his life, he really didn't know whatsoever, and then not only keep up talking to her, but get on a somewhat consistent schedule, enough to notice the moment she didn't call that something was wrong. He kept to himself far too much for this to feel normal to her. Even with his mom, he rarely called and stuck to writing letters, even though part of that was due to his guilt for putting her in the sanitarium. But she was still his mother. If he couldn't spare a few hours on the phone with her every few months, even after she made it known to him that he had nothing to feel guilty about, as he did the right thing, then it's unlikely he'd be socially able to figure out how to canoodle with a woman he didn't truly know.

"There's not." His answer was swift and finite. She didn't argue.

"Fine." JJ threw her hands up non aggressively in a sign of defeat. She was done prodding at him.

Sometimes she had to sit back and remember that he was a grown man, and he had a very strong mind of his own. He was going to follow the path he felt best, and even if she was worried, all she would do was drive him away if she continued to come at him the way she did. She'd let it go for now, for tonight, but maybe over breakfast, or possibly lunch, when he was happily eating and his guard was down, she would have found another way to get to the root of his unusual behavior.


	7. Chapter 7

_Thank you to everyone who is reading, reviewing and adding my story to your alerts and favorites. You all own my heart and give me the warm and fuzzies. _

_Phasha18 – Thanks for the review! I wish I wasn't twelve and laughing at my own writing. It's quite sad how funny I think Reid would be reaching over a pregnant JJ. And isn't waddle just a funny word, or is that just me?_

_Lolyncut – Thanks for the review! Sorry for the confusion. The original case that the BAU had headed out on a year and a half ago regarding a serial killer, which ended in Reid getting kidnapped and Melinda saving his life, is closed. They caught the serial killer. This is now a year and a half later and Melinda's bar recently went up in flames, leaving her missing and the only place she knew gone. Now Reid, having kept in touch with her via phone since, is trying to repay the favor she gave him by saving his life, by trying to find her and make sure she is safe. I hope that clarifies. If you have any other question, please feel free to message me. I don't want to confuse anyone. _

_Danicalif80 – Thanks for the review! I played with this story six ways from Sunday, trying to figure out a way to make this work without making it too incredibly cheesy, or un-Reid like. I know how this case is going to go down and going to end, but I'm still working on who did it. That probably would have been a good thing to know first, right? I hope I don't disappoint! _

**Chapter 7**

**The Truth About Melinda**

The tensions of the night that were supposed to relieve themselves upon arrival at the bed and breakfast, only thickened when Reid and JJ discovered one tiny little detail that had failed to trickle past Garcia's lips. The only room left had one bed. It was a queen size bed, but one bed, nonetheless. JJ, knowing Reid was hardly capable of rape and severely turned off by a pregnant woman, offered up a side of the bed exclusively for him. She saw no problem in them sharing the bed. Reid, on the other hand, couldn't bring himself to crawl under the sheets with a woman he had feelings for. In fact, crawling under the sheets with any woman was still relatively new to him, and he didn't know how comfortable he'd ever feel with it, as he saw himself as awkward and probably always would.

Despite JJ's insistence, Reid took the couch in the large, open room, fixed up with a sitting area near the television. The couch didn't pull out, so Reid's tall stature caused his feet to hang over the edge of it quite a bit. JJ tried a few more times to get him to come to bed, but after so many best attempts, she finally gave up, too tired to argue and not knowing what stick crawled up his rear end lately. She figured this was just something he needed to work out himself, although she still planned to approach him about it whenever she felt she'd get the least resistance from him.

As the night went on, JJ became glad that Reid didn't share the bed with her. He had unintentionally managed to wake her up four separate times to go to the bathroom, and once to search through his bag for, from what she could tell, was some type of pill that he proceeded to take. Each time she pretended like she wasn't awake, knowing if she were to say anything to him, he'd probably get defensive given their recent history over the past evening. She wondered how many more times he had gotten up and she had not been woken up by him. Had he been in bed with her, not only did she doubt she could have avoided being woken by him no matter how careful he was, but she doubted he'd fail to notice she was awake, so it ended up being for the best.

When morning rolled around and Reid's phone went off, indicating the bright and early hour of 6:30 am, JJ groaned and yelled at him to turn it off. The alarm continued to go off regardless, and she struggled to get up in her pregnant state. She even threw a pillow at him, hoping to wake him before he woke up the rest of the small bed and breakfast with his classical music alarm ringtone of choice. Even though she hit him square in the chest, he still didn't wake. This pushed her up a little faster, and she waddled toward his phone that was lying on the coffee table in front of the couch. And that's when she realized it. She waddled. Reid was right. She took a moment to sigh as that sunk in, before turning off the alarm. She didn't think today was going to be one of her best days either.

She laid the phone back down on the table and studied Reid for a moment. It seemed like he had finally gotten to sleep after an unrestful night. She hated to wake him, but he was the one who had promised the sheriff that they would meet him at the station at eight am, even though she secretly hated him a little for not making it at a later hour. She debated whether to wake him immediately, as he was the one who had set the alarm for that hour, or get a shower first. She decided to go with the latter, because she doubted he'd feel comfortable knowing she was in the shower in the connecting bathroom and pace the floor, trying to figure out what to do with himself and his own awkwardness that he caused himself. Besides, he was a guy. He needed far less time to get ready than she did, so she would have fought him for the shower first anyway. In case he didn't already know, the pregnant lady always wins, especially when she could force him to touch her tummy if he fought her.

She gathered her clothing and any personal items needed for the shower, not worrying about being too quiet since Reid was meant to be awake anyway. When he still didn't budge, she checked him to make sure he was still alive, just in case. Good news, he was, but he still failed to flinch when she checked his vitals. Not knowing what to do, she still decided to go along with the original plan, spending the least amount of time in the shower as she could, throwing on clothes and vowing to worry about her hair after waking Reid. She could dry it while he got ready, but if he didn't get up soon, they wouldn't make it to the police station, and as sentimental as Reid seemed to be about his friend, she doubted he'd be too happy about that.

After she was dressed, JJ made her way back out to the main room, hoping that Reid had woken up. When she came out of the bathroom and all was quiet, she knew he hadn't. She really didn't want to wake him. He almost looked like a little angel in his sleep, although he had acted like anything but the day before. He looked so sweet, in fact, that she suddenly forgot about his previous actions and started to hate herself for being the one that would have to wake him. It was rare to see Reid so peaceful, without something on his mind or something haunting him. She felt like what she was about to do should be considered a sin against his humanity.

"Spence. Hey, Spence. Reid." JJ bent down over him, slowly calling his name and shaking his shoulder. When he didn't respond to one name, she tried another, but all he did was snore and moan at her a little, before changing positions and falling as still as before.

Seeing as nothing was working, she did what she had to do, taking his hand and placing it on her stomach, being able to feel that her little girl was kicking. She felt bad about it, but she did what she had to do to get him to wake up. And wake up he did, in a state of confusion that quickly turned to disgust, a reaction that was only funny to JJ, she was sure.

"What did you go and do that for? I had my alarm set!" Reid sat up quickly once he figured out what was going on, careful to not knock into JJ while doing it. He made sure to move as far from her as he possibly could in one fell swoop, just to make sure his hand wouldn't be in the vicinity of her stomach so she couldn't try that again.

"And it went off forty five minutes ago. I let you sleep until after I finished my shower because you were really out, but now I have to get you up or else we're going to be late meeting Sheriff Cauruthers at the station." JJ put her hand on his arm to try to get him to see she was not an opponent and wouldn't blind side him again...at least not this morning. She smiled a little as he tried to pull himself away from her gentle touch, but then finally gave in for a moment when he realized she wasn't going for his hand.

"What? I would have heard my alarm." JJ let go of him, reaching for his phone and handing it to him. He looked at it, seeing the time, and then panicked, freaking out again and continuing his unusual behavior. "No, that's impossible! I've never slept through my alarm before!"

"There's a first time for everything, Reid. Don't get all worked up. You're a guy. It won't take you that long to get ready. Go on and get a shower. I'll go see about the breakfast part of this bed and breakfast thing and meet you back up here with food in, say, fifteen minutes. I'll eat while you get ready, and then you can eat while I drive. If we're running a little late, I'll call the sheriff and let him know." Mostly JJ just wanted to make sure she was out of the room for him to shower, leaving him to feel like he had as much privacy as possible.

She knew how strangely uncomfortable he'd be just knowing she was naked and getting a shower. Having her in the adjoining room, only a door separating them, while he was naked and getting a shower, would probably give him a coronary. She would have rather dried her hair in the room while Reid showered, and then stopped for breakfast on the way, but she knew it would be uncomfortable for Reid. Even though she had known Reid for years, she still felt like she should be just a little more careful around him and do what she could to help ease whatever was going on with him until she found out what that was.

Despite the rocky start to the morning, it carried on surprisingly well. JJ was able to bring breakfast back for the two of them. Reid had his private time to shower, and was dressed and drying his hair when she got back. She, unfortunately, didn't have the same luxury with giving Reid his privacy, so she pulled hers back, knowing it would dry itself straight in the warm summer air. As promised, JJ drove to the station while Reid ate. There were several times she thought his guard was down enough to try to prod at him again about his current mental state, but she ultimately decided it was too soon post his problematic morning. All that mattered was that they arrived at the police station with two minutes to spare, and that seemed to ease Reid's mood considerably.

Although Reid had been doing a little better after getting food into his stomach, he immediately became defensive upon crossing through the doors to the police station. JJ could see a little bit of discomfort in the way he walked and the way he bulked at the doors before opening them. She had made sure to have Garcia fully catch her up on the things he didn't tell her about his kidnapping while waiting the full fifteen minutes she had promised Reid she'd give him to shower. Even though Garcia hadn't been there, she knew the story better than JJ and knew that Reid had let the unsub into the police station himself, through those very doors, and allowed himself to be kidnapped. She had a feeling that her bad day due to the discovery that she waddled, was going to mild compared to Reid's day.

Once inside the station, Reid didn't even bother to stop at the first desk inside the door. He continued past it, flashing his badge. JJ followed suit until they reached the sheriff's office. Reid didn't bother to knock. He walked right in, declaring himself.

"Sheriff Cauruthers, I'm here for my eight o'clock appointment." The sheriff looked passive about seeing them, but as if he were fully prepared for it all the same. He seemed to be holding a different demeanor than he had the night before, which JJ was thankful for.

"Have a seat, Dr Reid and, what did you say your name was again?" Reid wasted no time sliding into the chair closest to the window and furthest from the office entrance, leaving JJ to have that one. He set his bag down next to him on the floor, already pulling files out of it just in case.

"Jennifer Jareau. You can call me JJ." She stuck her hand out, shaking it before sitting next Reid.

"It's nice to meet you, JJ. I'm Sheriff Cauruthers. I apologize for last night, and for not properly introducing myself. We've had a lot of kids trying to do stupid stuff on Jolene's property, or Melinda's property, rather. I was on my way home from a late night of doing paperwork at the station when I saw the two of you in a car I didn't recognize and figured there was trouble. I shouldn't have reacted the way I did. You have to understand that Jolene's bar burning down has been a bone of contention in this town. Half of the people only miss it because it was Jolene's, and the other half are glad to see Melinda gone. I have more suspects than I know what to do with, and then the FBI rolls in. You can understand how this would be a bad thing for me, being sheriff and all." JJ watched his actions, seeing that he was truly sincere about having gotten into the current plight. He did seem to want to cooperate with the FBI, and JJ took his apology to be good enough for her. Reid, on the other hand, already had his words picked out long before the sheriff opened his mouth.

"I understand you're trying to protect your job, both of them, actually. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're not only the sheriff, but the chief of police for this town, which is unheard of anywhere but a place this remote. The problem with that is you live in a small county and an even smaller town. You have exactly two thousand and eighty seven people to serve, which pales in comparison to most counties at such a large margin that it's almost negligible. Because of that and the fact that there were no other major crimes in your county in the last ninety days, Melinda and her bar should have been your first priority. If you wanted to protect your job, you should have actually done it by investigating. If anything happened to her, rest assured that I will take this to a federal level, making a case specifically against you and your failure to uphold to your duties both sheriff and chief of police." Reid, who was normally not one to be aggressive, was ready to pick a fight. He protected those he cared about, which made JJ more curious about this girl. If they truly had only a phone relationship, she wondered what this girl had said to hook Reid so tightly.

"Reid, why don't you go get a cup of coffee?" JJ sneered at him, hating to do it in front of another law enforcement agent, but she was afraid if she didn't put a swift end to this, he was going to ruin any chance they had of the police fully cooperating with them.

"I don't want coffee." He sneered right back, answering her so coldly that she started to feel the breeze from where she was sitting.

"Yes, you do." JJ reached over, grabbing Reid's hand and threatening to put it on her stomach. He shook his head no, she shook hers yes, the sheriff scratched his head at the scene in front of him, and finally Reid gave in. JJ turned to the sheriff, deciding to take this into the hallway, and smiled a fake, albeit sweet smile. "Excuse us one minute."

"No, I don't." They weren't even out of the office when Reid argued back. He had to know this wasn't about coffee, even with his mind that never learn to read between the lines.

By now, even the officers at the surrounding desks knew this wasn't about coffee. To keep away from the glares, JJ pulled Reid back into the nearby hallway that led to the bathrooms, keeping him out of earshot from the bullpen of police.

"Reid, please don't make me call Chief Strauss and tell her that you're out of control. I know you want to investigate your friend's disappearance, but this is not the way to do it. Arguing with the sheriff doesn't usually get you anything but forceful resistance. We talked about this last night." She spoke quietly, just to be on the safe side, but she was firm. Motherhood had taught her a thing or two about taking crap from men. Sometimes Reid was no different from that little angel face of a boy she had at home.

"Fine, but I'm not getting coffee. I'm just pretending to." Reid stomped out of the hallway and toward where they had come in. JJ felt bad upsetting him more than he already was due to reasons unknown, but she was hoping he'd cool off a little. She reentered the office in the meantime, prepared to smooth things over and spin it whatever way she had to in order to get the sheriff back on board with working with them.

"I'm sorry about that. He didn't get a lot of sleep last night." JJ took a seat, making sure to sit back, seeming more relaxed and less defensive than she was feeling. She was on guard for Reid's sake, wanting to make this work, and feeling as if she'd blame herself if she couldn't find neutral ground, since it had previously been her job with the team.

"I was going to say, I don't remember him being that confrontational the first time he was here. In fact, I found him to be polite, knowledgeable, and fantastic to work with. I remember wishing I had several of him. I didn't realize he was that explosive." It was apparent by the look on the sheriff's face that he was stunned by this and taken aback, to say the last. It was possible he was already rethinking working with the pair, and she couldn't say she blamed him.

"He's normally not. I worked with him for several years, and I've never seen him blow up quite like that. Please accept my apology for him, and understand that he and Melinda became friends in the time between him being here and now. He's very concerned for her and upset that no one looked into what happened to her after the fire. Now let me ask you something, you were saying you had more suspects than you knew what to do with when it came the fire, but I thought it was ruled an accident." JJ worked quickly to make this about the case and not personal, being sure to throw in an explanation as to Reid's behavior, hoping the sheriff would understand personal relationships and it would be good enough.

"Officially it was, at least according to the fire chief, but I have my suspicions. I can assure you that I am looking into what happened, but Melinda is an interesting story with a lot of controversy surrounding her. I had my suspicions about what really happened from point one, and I hate to say it, but I had my suspicions about the official report as well. I can't prove anything, and you'll have to talk to the fire chief and see if he tells you anything different. As for Melinda, she's an admitted grifter, a loner by nature. Until your friend came along and said he spoke with her after the fire had taken place, I assumed her dead. You saw that place, even the appliances were melted. There would be no way for us to know for sure, because if the fire was that hot, there would be nothing left of her. She'd be ash too fine to identify. Now that I know she didn't perish in the fire, I don't even know where to begin looking for her, but I do want to help you. As much as the town gave Melinda a hard time, and as much as she probably thought I didn't care for her either, it wasn't true. I thought she was a nice girl, and I actually admired her dedication to Jolene. I thought she deserved to inherit that bar, and that no one would have taken care of it the way she did. I never thought she had anything to do with Jolene's murder. Jolene was all she had, and she loved her far too much to even think about harming her, but because of the way things were in town and the fingers being pointed, I had to investigate her like I would any other lead I got. I always felt horrible about that, but I could never show it. It's my job as a sheriff to be impartial." JJ sighed in relief, knowing the sheriff was not going to be their problem like she had feared last night upon their first meeting.

"I'm sorry for the way I acted earlier. I thought you were just like everyone else in this town. She told me some of the things people did to her, the way they treated her, and I just figured you were the same since you never did anything about it." JJ hadn't been the only one appreciative that the sheriff was non judgmental, or surprised.

Neither she nor the Sheriff were aware that Reid had come back from outside and was standing just outside of the door, wanting to listen in as he caught the sheriff talking about Jolene. He stood quietly, not wanting to interrupt him speaking candidly in a way he was worried the sheriff would not do around him. Once Reid heard what he had to say, his entire thoughts on the sheriff shifted, and he knew he had to eat crow.

"I never did anything about it, because she never came to me about anything that had gone on. I knew how people treated her because I heard whisperings, but unless I physically saw it or she reported it, there was nothing I could do to help her. I wish I knew her reasons for not coming to me, because I tried to make her understand that she could, but I don't. I assume it's because she thought I was one in the same." Sheriff Cauruthers, glad to see Reid was not going to fight him the whole way through this like he had feared, opened his hand to the seat where Reid was once sitting. "Please, join us again. As I was just telling your colleague, I have my suspicions that the fire was arson. I suggested you talk to the fire chief. I was also wondering what I could do to help find her, since I don't even know where to begin to look."

"We think she was coming to me. Do you know of any mode of transportation she could have used? As far as I know, she didn't have a drivers license and wouldn't have risked driving without one, but Jolene's car is gone. I can't explain that." Reid saw an open opportunity to not only let Sheriff Cauruthers in on information they already knew and get the case started, but to inquire about things that had been plaguing him surrounding the condition of the property the night before.

"I can. About a year ago, a young girl in a neighboring town lost both of her parents. It was a really tragic story. The parents were pretty far in debt, and as a result she ended up losing her home and most of her belongings, her parents' vehicles included. Melinda took her in, let her live in Jolene's house and finish out the school year, and when she got a full ride scholarship to college a few months ago, Melinda gave her the car as a present. She knew she couldn't navigate college without it." Reid's face scrunched up, trying to work this out in his mind. Surely she would have told Reid about someone living in Jolene's house, if nothing else. He was baffled, yet still had one more question that would not be so easy to explain.

"And the house?" He was a little more desperate than he'd like to admit to hear how a house that bared no legs, got up and took off without a trace.

"After the girl moved out, Melinda realized it was doing her no good sitting there unoccupied, unlike a house should be. It wouldn't be what Jolene wanted. She came to me and asked me if there had been any house fires recently. I told her about a family at the edge of the county line who lost everything in a house fire. Because the wife had accidentally set the fire, the insurance refused to cover it, so all they were left with was land and no money to rebuild. She did some research and found out that the house could be moved to their property, and that if that was done, their three children could stay in the same school district and not have to change their lives. She thought the family, especially the children, deserved some stability, so she paid to have the house moved to their land. The family was beyond grateful because they were living out of their shed with no running water and no electricity and had been for almost two weeks before she came along." Reid paused, a little hurt that she hadn't let him in on any of this. He thought he knew her since she always told him he was the only one she had to talk to, but now he was beginning to doubt that. In his pause, JJ jumped in, just as confused, but for a different reason.

"And no one liked this girl?" JJ was baffled, but before she could get any kind of rhetorical response, the cat finally let go of Reid's tongue, and he was able to trump her with his own inquiry.

"She never told me about any of this." The hurt in Reid's voice rang as clear as a bell. As the sheriff chose to verify it, surprisingly defending Melinda in the process, JJ reached over and rubbed his arm. As long as she didn't try to put his hand on her belly, he was okay.

"That doesn't surprise me. The only reason I knew was because the title of the car passed through the town records, and a little research told me the story of that. As far as the house, she came to me about it. Melinda wasn't a flashy person. She didn't like people to know about her good deeds, because she never thought anything she was doing was notable. If she had something she could share with you or she could do a good deed, she did it, because that's what Jolene taught her, and that's who she was. Most of what she did was out of town, since she didn't care to give to those who disliked her so much, and I can't say I could blame her. Although I doubt she would have hesitated to help someone in town had there been a true tragedy. It just turned out that, ironically enough, her bar was the only tragedy this town had seen aside from the serial killer from a year and a half ago. In that case, her good deed came in the form of saving your life. She asked me if there was anything else she could do, but there wasn't." Reid became thoughtful for a moment, thinking back to the night he had met her. The pieces started falling into place instantly.

"You know, even when she saved my life, she refused to admit it. She told me I was being dramatic about the situation, and that she had done nothing but help out law enforcement." He knew now that he was her good deed, and her keeping up with him was her way of making sure she protected what she had done and know she had done well.

He didn't feel dejected like he thought he should, because somehow he knew she came to deeply care for him over time, and this explained her reasons for keeping so much to herself. Suddenly, she made sense to him, which was more than he could say for any other woman on the planet. But even still, he wished she still would have shared more with him, because he thought he was different, that she was letting him in more than she was. Maybe that was just the part of him that wanted to be different in her eyes.

"That's just who she was. She did what she did because she felt it was the right thing to do, and not for the notoriety. I admired that about her, and it doesn't surprise me that she didn't tell you about the things she had done. Quite honestly, she probably never will, and if you were to ask her, she'd either blow it off or deny it just like she had done to you regarding her saving your life." Sheriff Cauruthers was very accepting, almost blasé, about this, as if it were just the norm for her. Reid began to feel better about him still, seeing that he was telling the truth and his words were proving so. What he said added up.

"What else can you tell us about the fire?" Reid pondered what he had to say, which gave him all the more reason to pass over the personal stuff and continue probing him for information. The quicker he got all the information he could, the quicker he could find her.

"I can tell you that it was technically more of an explosion than a fire. The whole town heard the place go up. There was a loud bang, and we were there thirty six seconds after we heard it. Half the town surrounded the place. It took all the cops we had just to keep the rubberneckers back." Sheriff Cauruthers sighed, already regretting the next thing he had to say. "Dr. Reid, you've seen the scene, but I was there directly after the place went up. Are you positive the person you spoke with on the phone was Melinda?"

"She didn't say anything that would made me think it wasn't. She sounded like herself, down to her specific vocal tone and the way she worded things." The question had been brought up before. Each time he was able to replay their conversation in his head, and nothing had stuck out to this point. It was worrisome, though, seeing the scene and being presented with evidence that was against her being alive.

"I don't want to bring this up, but I need you to be sure. The way that place exploded...Dr. Reid, she wouldn't have had time to get out. Even if she did smell the smoke and it woke her up, she would have barely gotten out of bed before..." He trailed off. He watched Reid's face, feeling bad about what he was saying and knowing that he didn't want to rub in what Reid already knew. "Look, even if she would have had time to get out prior to the explosion, we were there so soon after that we would have seen her. I don't know how she would have gotten away on foot that quickly. Are you sure it was her you talked to?"

"I thought I was, but you're making me question myself. My instincts have never be wrong, though, and my instinct up until I saw the scene and you presented me with more facts than I had prior to questioning me about this, was that it was her." He'd like to think that he would have known had it not been. Not only was he a profiler, but he didn't have many people in his life. The ones he did, he tended to pay specific, specialized attention to.

"So then we work with the theory that you did talk to her. The first thing we need to find out is where the phone call came from. If you give me her cell phone number then I can go ahead and have our tech trace the call." This was the one thing they hadn't asked Garcia to do in the rush to find out if she boarded transportation. After that, they were on a plane and off in their different directions. If anything could give them a clue to her whereabouts, this could, although the call was placed a little over a month ago.

"You'll need a warrant for that." Reid's leg was moving a million miles an hour, up and down and up down, nervous, and not wanting to wait for a warrant. He didn't care how long it would take for one to be issued, it was too long. He should have made Garcia check her cell records regardless. He felt like he was failing.

"I can do that. It shouldn't take too long." Sheriff Cauruthers began to get up from his desk, prepared to leave the room and go through the proper procedure necessary for the warrant. JJ rose from her seat.

"Never mind that. I'll call our technical analyst, Garcia. She can bypass all of that. Reid, give me your phone. I'll get her number out of there." Reid pulled his phone off his pants, handing it over to JJ. She took it out of his hand and swiftly left the room so the two could talk and hopefully move forward with the case while she did her business. She knew Garcia wouldn't mind being bothered again with one teensy little thing from her girl.

"Legally?" Sheriff Cauruthers was still trying to process how they were going to bypass something they would normally need a warrant for. He had been curious previously when the team was there, as to how they would get records without paperwork, but he didn't question it then because the information was needed so desperately. He would now, though.

"We don't discuss that." Reid glossed over his question, prepared with more of his own and ready to hit a little harder now that they could talk man to man. "I have another concern that I'm unsure you'll be able to put at ease for me. I know Melinda didn't use banks. She didn't believe in them, so she kept her money in a safe in the bar. Would there be any way to tell if she was able to get money out of the structure prior to the explosion?"

"Like I said, Dr. Reid, if she escaped it would be a miracle. I don't see how she would have had enough time to unlock a safe on top of it. If she did get out at all, and that's a big if, I would run on the assumption that she's without money. There's no way to tell for sure, being as everything has been reduced to ash, though." All they had were assumptions, and that was something Reid never liked or knew how to work with. He needed facts, and he couldn't stand living in a gray area when it was his friend's life in the balance.

"I figured as much. Sheriff Cauruthers, I'm not trying to pick a fight with you, but if you knew the fire was technically an explosion, meaning the official report which stated it was a fire was most likely falsified, and that there was any chance that Melinda was missing as opposed to dead, why didn't you call in help? Why would you just assume a woman was dead when she could be out there alone, broke, and, for all we know, in trouble because that fire wasn't an accident? What if someone took her, and then set fire to the place hoping you would think she was dead? There's so many possibilities, so many things that could have happened to her, and instead of calling in help, you did nothing." Instead of becoming aggressive like he had before, he pleaded with Sheriff Caruthers this time, hoping to appeal to the moral side of him that should have known better. Reid believed in doing no wrong and upholding the oath you took as an officer of the law.

"I understand why you're upset, but you have to understand that this goes beyond my legal duties. This is my town. These are my friends. I have an obligation to them. I promise you that I've been looking into this case on my own, silently and off the clock. I want to get to the bottom of this and know for sure what I'm looking at before I called in any other law enforcement agencies. Right now, I just don't know. I feel like there's been tampering, and I have my suspicions, but I couldn't go on assuming things and calling in the calvary before I had evidence. You know as well as I do that superior law enforcement agencies need evidence. You wouldn't even be here if Melinda wasn't your friend, and if you wouldn't have been convinced it was her that you heard from post the fire. You had reason to assume her missing. I had reason to assume her dead. I didn't have anything to take to higher law enforcement, so I was looking for something, anything. As soon as I had it, I would have." JJ walked back into the room toward the end of the conversation, hearing enough that she knew she wanted to extinguish the conversation, just in case it gave Reid's emotions another reason to get fired up. She knew better than even Reid that the sheriff had a point, since she had been one going through the cases and hand picking them for the team in her former job.

"Had this case come across my desk, I would have moved it to the bottom of the pile. It's not that I wouldn't have wanted the team to help, but hundreds of cases come across my desk and this one is, quite frankly, low priority. It involves one person and one incident with no evidence that anything more sinister has taken place or anyone was ever in imminent danger by the hands of another human being." Both Reid and Sheriff Cauruthers just stared at her as if to ask her if she had a point. Obviously, they had their own bond going, and she just shouldn't try to help anymore. She moved on to more pertinent information. "The phone call came from Vail, Colorado. It was the only call registered on her phone before it was turned on a few days later. Garcia says you can thank her by bringing her back one of those pens with the little person inside that skis back and forth when you move it and says Colorado on it."

"Where am I supposed to find one of those?" It never seized to amaze Reid when Garcia came up with a ridiculous, but child-like request when doing a favor for the team. He realized she was on her own high profile case, and she was going out of her way to help them, but did she have to request such unusual things?

"I don't know, Spence. Try the airport." JJ was amused by Garcia's request, but more amused that this time she was just going to let Reid figure it out for himself. Normally she fielded Garcia's request silently. Since she was no longer with the BAU, and she knew Morgan and Prentiss had picked up her slack, she thought it would be a good time to give Reid a taste of how you truly please Garcia.

"Here, she can have mine. She does good work." Reid reached over and grabbed the pen, curious, having never messed with one before.

"You seriously have one of these things, huh?" He held it in his hands, appalled anyone would own something this ridiculous, yet unable to keep from moving it back and forth to see the little man ski.

"I like my hometown souvenirs. I'll just get another one from the gift shop in town." Reid nodded, placing the pen in his bag. This was weird, even for him.

"Thanks...I think." It was sad to admit, but JJ found a little in amusement in Reid's plight to avoid the random chotskies that Garcia appreciated so much. Useless things made no sense to him.

"No problem. If Melinda was in Vail when she spoke with you just days after the fire, it would certainly seem to cement the thought that she was headed to you, Dr. Reid, being as Vail is east of here. There's also a lot of traffic on the main road headed for Vail, so she could have easily gotten a ride there. I just don't know where to go with that information." They had a missing person whose last known whereabouts were from a month ago, a fire that they didn't know if it was accidental or on purpose, and a lot of questions caught in between. When someone could literally be anywhere in the United States or possibly Canada and no one even knew for sure if they were still alive, sometimes even the best police work wouldn't help a thing.

"Me either. Would it be possible for your department to make some phone calls to the local department in Vail and let them know the situation, as well as send a picture of her for circulation throughout the town so we can find out if anyone's seen her?" Having been at this long enough, Reid knew the only place they could start was at the beginning. He would get the police unit started on tracking down the last place she was seen, which would be the beginning of their journey to finding if it was indeed her that had called him, while he and JJ worked on the very thing that sparked this all, the fire.

"I can make the calls, but I can't say I have a picture of Melinda." Reid nodded, looking at JJ,

"I do. JJ, can I have my phone, please?" She handed it to him. He hit a few buttons and pulled up a picture, then handing it over to Sheriff Cauruthers. "Thanks. Here. She sent this to me last month. You could send it to your office email account, and then email it out to the other law enforcement agency from there."

"I don't know how appropriate this picture is, Dr. Reid." Reid scrunched up his face in confusion as the phone was handed back to him.

"Why not? It seems completely appropriate to me. Plus, it shows her tattoo, which would be an identifying mark It's also the most recent picture I have, meaning it's the one she would most likely get identified by." He looked at the picture again, seeing nothing wrong with it.

"Let me see." He handed his phone back to JJ, knowing she would agree with him. It was just a picture from a friend. "Reid, this picture is not appropriate. Do you have another one?"

"I don't know. She sent me a couple of them. Just sort through my pictures. There's not many on there that aren't case related. I still don't see what's wrong with that picture." He was becoming that whiny little child he had succumbed to in the last day, but JJ ignored him, saying what she could to move him off of the subject before he dwelled on it, so that he could focus on the situation at hand.

"I'll explain it to you later. Here you go. This picture should be more suitable." JJ found a headshot of Melinda. She had little makeup on and her hair was down and messy, making her easily identifiable if she was on the streets, dirty and sans any kind of materials used to enhance her image. She was beginning to get a better idea of what it was Reid saw in her and what he probably wanted to see of her.

"Would you like to put an APB out on Melinda and circulate this picture through law enforcement agencies throughout the country? If she's still out there, someone had to have seen her." Reid shot down the idea immediately. If that's what he wanted, he would have done it already. It was the worst idea he could think of, which is why he had come the whole way out here to search her out, JJ in tow.

"Let's just start with Vail. I'm concerned if we circulate the picture and the police approach her, she's going to get scared, considering her past, and we'll have more trouble finding her. The last thing I want is the police involved, especially since we don't know how she's getting by. Could you possibly circulate it through the trucker community, too? If she's coming to me, she's most likely hitchhiking, and if she is, she's probably hitching rides with truckers. They'd be more likely to pick her up. Make sure you specify when sending this out that she is not wanted and not in trouble. No one in uniform is to approach her. They are to call me immediately and only me, and if someone without a uniform does decide to approach her, they're to let her know that I am looking for her and have her call me. Here is my cell phone number. We'll see what comes back from that and go from there." Reid began to gather himself, standing, and urging JJ to do the same. Now that he had a plan for the day, he was prepared to act on it. He was beginning to see how tough Hotch's job was and was relieved to not normally have to have this much responsibility. If something went wrong, he didn't realize how much blame would fall on him and how much fell on Hotch each time the team as a whole failed.

"What are you going to do?" Expecting Reid and JJ to stay and help him circulate the picture and field calls, Sheriff Cauruthers was shocked when the pair rose from their chairs and prepared to leave.

"Go and talk to the fire chief. I plan on finding out exactly what happened at the bar that night. If the fire was arson, it will give us a whole new direction to head in. We have to know for sure what we're looking at, though, before we can come to any further conclusions. Call me if you get any leads." Reid slung his brown bag over his head, coming up beside JJ and putting his hand on her back for a second, which was his way of making sure she was okay. She shook her head and they started out the door.

"Will do. And Dr. Reid, I would advise you to approach Fire Chief Hollis with caution. If he's covering up something, there has to be a reason. He's primarily an honest man." Sheriff Cauruthers called after them, making sure they knew what they were walking into before they were blindsided. He was concerned Fire Chief Hollis would feel cornered, and he did the best he could to forewarn them. He wasn't a volatile man, just one who would go to great lengths to protect the town. He saw feds as a threat.

"That's what concerns me." With that, JJ and Reid departed from the police station, feeling as if they may actually get somewhere on this yet.

JJ found relief in the fact that Reid found a way to control his emotions, reaching common ground with Sheriff Cauruthers. She was concerned about what would happen if she had to be the woman in the middle between her own friend and former colleague, and a sheriff who was forced into an investigation without a choice to his own wants. They had literally come into his town and took over, and JJ was trying to take the edge of that, but there was no way around the facts. They had gotten lucky this time that the sheriff also happened to agree with them. Things could have gone a lot worse.

Even though, JJ knew Reid's head was filling up even more with conspiracy theories, feeling as if his former ones may have been validated. Despite all that was said, he now had more reason to believe someone was hiding something. He didn't believe this fire was an accident, not for a second. Melinda loved that bar the way she loved Jolene. She would have never risked anything happening to it, or her home. She was too careful, too meticulous. His gut told him this was arson, but he didn't even know where to begin since the scene was burnt to a crisp. He knew he'd have to go back and visit the scene. He was looking for something the first time they had been there, he just didn't know what. Maybe if he went back, he'd find it.

As they walked down the street toward the fire station, a place Reid knew the whereabouts of from being there before, he noticed the sun high in the sky. He looked down at his watch, and then over at JJ. Although their time in the police station had only felt like minutes, the morning had wasted away. She'd not had anything to eat or drink since entering the station, nor had she complained. She still wasn't planning to, but he knew she had to be hungry. Putting his hand on her back, Reid veered her toward the closest diner without so much as a word, not being hungry himself, but not wanting to make a big ordeal of it. Reid planned on allowing her to eat and move on with the case, but JJ had too many questions for him, and other plans.


	8. Chapter 8

Thank you to everyone who reads, reviews, and ads my story to their alerts and favorites. You all own my heart! I apologize that this chapter took so long, but it will begin to peel back a heavier layer of the case.

dizprincess77 – Thanks for the review! Yay! I am so glad I continued this story for awesome people like you! Thank you!

danicalif80 – Thanks for the review! You always leave me awesome reviews with amazing visuals. I'm now imagining Reid in a really brightly colored cape, which is flapping in the wind, and tights over his pants, being all superhero like. You make me giggle!

**Chapter 8**

**Flames to Embers**

The pair were seated at a table near the window. The red and white checkered tablecloths mimicked what you would see on a picnic and told them they weren't in Virginia anymore, as if they needed another reminder. Reid seemed to have no interest in making small talk, or any kind of talk at all, while he didn't even bother to gloss over the menu. He was waiting for JJ to order, while he only got a glass of water. This was odd for him, especially considering he was a talker, and he would clean your plate so fast if there was food left on it. He tried to act like it was no big deal, that no one would notice, but once the waitress was gone, JJ couldn't help but speak up.

"You're not eating?" JJ cocked an eyebrow at him, not used to seeing him turn down food of any kind. She had, in fact, seen him pick up food on his way to investigate a lead, sometimes inappropriately.

"I'm not hungry." Reid's voice was short, reminiscent of a bad lie.

Had he said it differently, maybe JJ would have believed him, especially since he had been up and down so many times last night. Maybe his stomach was a little iffy today. He could have gotten away with it if he was just a better liar. For someone who studied peoples' behavior, he sure hadn't picked up on the lying gestures.

"You haven't eaten since this morning." Gently, she pointed this out. Even when he had, it was a light breakfast. He had a bagel, which may be good for some people, but not him.

"That still doesn't make me hungry." Shrugging, Reid tried unsuccessfully to find something to busy himself with before his behavior was too apparent. Not only was it too late for that, much to his obliviousness, but he knew if he pulled Melinda's file out of his bag one more time that it would be a dead giveaway. JJ knew with as many awkward moments that he'd taken to go over it, that he had to have it memorized three times over by now.

"All right, I know I'm going to sound like a broken record, and you know I hate to sound like your mother, but I'm not past doing it if it means getting some answers. What is going on with you? What's wrong?" She had promised herself that when she had gotten a moment with Reid's guard down, she was going to take it. His guard was always down when he ate, but since he didn't seem to be wanting to do that, she had to go in anyway.

There were no case files around and he hadn't brought it up, so she saw what may be her only opportunity. She was kind about the way she asked, almost pleading with him to just give it up already. Not only was the suspense of what problem the little genius could possibly be having plaguing her, but she also worried about him. Contrary to how she may have made him feel, she still deeply cared for his little socially inept butt.

"My mom would have never asked me that. Not normally, at least, and especially if she was having a bad day. She wanted to, but she was too caught up in her head to be able to think about taking care of me a lot of times." Nodding her head, JJ resigned to the fact that this was going to be harder to drag out of him than she thought. Considering she knew going in that this was going to be difficult, that was quite the compliment to the severity of the situation.

"Wow." Diverting her eyes from him, JJ took a sip of her apple juice. It seemed to be the baby's favorite.

Henry, however, preferred just plain water. Somedays it was hard to adjust to the differences between her growing fetuses. Reid wasn't helping, as she felt like she was dealing with a forever changing teenager, although it did give her a good glance into her future. It was never too soon to start running from it.

"What? What was the wow for?" JJ lifted her head from her drink, shaking it, while looking directly at Reid. She couldn't help but laugh a little at his expense, upsetting him just a little more. "What?"

"I don't know. I'm waiting for you to tell me." She did know why she had said wow. It was because he couldn't stop avoid the subject by throwing in a rant about things that were neither here nor there, but try telling him that. It doesn't work.

"There's nothing to tell." He couldn't even look her in the eyes when he lied this time. She knew she had him cornered if she could just play her cards right.

"You've always been an awful liar. You have to know that." Honesty was the best policy. If she could persuade him to use it, too, they may get somewhere. His eyes never met hers again, though, and it was a bad sign when he made himself look shady.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I never lie. That's not who I am." Within frustration and annoyance, he fought to hold his cool. He didn't handle being pressured well. It over made him bite. He had to have the ability to give up information in his own time, after he had dealt with whatever it was that was going on, which always took awhile.

"Okay, Spence, so what really happened between you and Lila Archer?" Impolitely placing her elbow on the table, JJ leaned her head into her hand, taking a relaxing stance as she questioned her younger former colleague as casually as possible. She did think she was a little crafty.

"I don't know what you're talking about." This time, when Reid lied, he did actually grab for his bag by default. He caught himself midway to pulling it onto his lap. He was going to have to get better at this lying thing he insisted he wasn't doing.

"Funny, because you have an eidetic memory." JJ didn't waver from her cool stance. It wasn't her that was under pressure. The less she could seem as if she was pushing him into saying anything, instead of casually conversing with him, the better chance she had of him accidentally allowing something to slip. That's all she was asking for.

"That was several years ago. That's a long time." Although a fact, one of Reid's favorite things, it was a diversion. JJ remained unimpressed, all the while he thought he was being sneaky and stealth with his faked ignorance.

"Not for you it isn't. You generally seem to remember everything." Cornered and feeling slightly screwed, Reid lashed out, almost as loudly as he had on the plane, making several people look their way.

"Why are you asking me about Lila? What does she have to do with anything?" There were parts of his past that he hadn't wanted to talk about. Lila was a one of those parts, due largely because she was, in her own way, his first heartbreak.

"I'm just trying to prove to you that you do lie." As cool as could be, JJ leaned in and took another sip of her drink. This time, her baby kicked. She held her stomach and made a little face, as it was uncomfortable for her, but Reid never seemed to notice, which was how JJ knew he was more heated than she had expected.

"I'm not lying. I don't know what you're talking about." Shaking her head, JJ tried again. She hadn't wanted to get under Reid's skin in this way and in a public place. She was hoping he'd be calm and eating when she went in for the kill, but if she didn't do this now, she may not get another chance. His head was hot already with all his conspiracy theories.

"Hot blonde, actress, you kissed in her pool while..." With one big outburst, Reid lashed out. Although it wasn't nearly as harsh as it would have been if it was Hotch had done it, it was enough to startle her, because it was coming from him. Sweet, gentle him.

"It was an accident!" He even went as far as to slam one of his fists on the table, doing it automatically in trying to get his point across. He immediately caught himself, but by then it was too late, and he still had some fire left in him.

"It was an accident that her lips touched yours?" Raising the other eyebrow, JJ sat back in her seat and crossed her arms, defensive. She hadn't meant to be, but with his reaction it was her way of protecting her baby, although she knew he'd hardy hurt her.

"Yes! I didn't mean to kiss her! It just happened!" His actions were calmer, and his voice a little quieter, as he'd finally caught on that everyone was looking their way. It still carried the same amount of gusto that it had before.

"So you kissed her? Because after it happened, you told me that she kissed you before you had a chance to stop her. Interesting. I wonder why you didn't want me to know you kissed a girl." In truth, the kiss had been mutual after the eventual point when he realized he had needs, too. He had admitted to Morgan that he had kissed her, but that hadn't been what he had told JJ, because part of him still wanted it to be her that he kissed at that time.

Part of JJ was highly amused by how agitated he was by this, but another part of her, the lesser part, felt just a little guilty for prying at him this way. If he would be more honest with her, when she was only trying to help, she wouldn't have to be. That's what she kept reminding herself of.

"That's what I just said! And it was because it was none of your business!" This time, his voice wasn't as angry, but more pleading, desperate to get her to just drop the subject. He was cracking. She hated herself for feeling triumphant because of that.

"Yep, you're a terrible liar. You used to know that. What is it about this case that's made you forget that?" Her only agenda here wasn't to get into his mind, but yet, find out what was plaguing him. It was bad, that much she knew, because something of any other nature he would have told her about.

"I don't have to sit here and take this. I'm going to do my job and talk to the fire chief." In a split second decision, Reid tried to make for the door. JJ anticipated this the moment he started to stand and got up herself, blocking his way to the door. She had embarrassed herself far too much by now to let him get away, between everyone staring here and on the plane.

"Don't make me make you touch my stomach again in front of this entire restaurant. People are already staring. You wouldn't want the town to know that the big federal agent is afraid of pregnant bellies." It was a horribly unfair card to play, but the Reid she used to know wasn't this defiant. She had to get her leverage somehow. "Sit down and I'll get you some coffee, my treat."

"I don't want coffee." He was indignant, still refusing to sit down.

"You don't? What, is this some kind of new thing that your doctor suggested or something? Was everyone afraid you were going to drown yourself in it?" JJ tried to joke with him, trying to put him back in a comfort zone that they had found over the years. Still, he didn't take the bait. If anything, he just bit back harder.

"I just don't want coffee." He was defensive, if not pensive, speaking quickly. His body language told JJ he was anything but welcoming to her being in his space.

"Reid, are you all right? You can tell me if you're not. I wouldn't ask, it's just that...I'm worried." She was going to tell him why, let him know she had heard him last night, and that his lack of coffee was quite disturbing, yet she decided against it at the last minute. Sometimes Reid was like a small child who had to be soothed into a sense of security before sharing what they swore to not speak of.

"I'm fine. God, JJ, just back off. This doesn't concern you!" JJ jumped back a little. She never thought Reid could startle her in this way, especially after his erratic behavior over the last couple of days, but she had thought wrong. She immediately put her hands on her stomach, feeling that she had upset her baby into kicking and moving around. She was upset, even though she didn't want to be, and she couldn't hide it.

"You know what? Just go talk to the fire chief. I give up." JJ sat down, allowing him to go past her. She was tired of arguing with him.

If he didn't want to tell her what was going on and accept her friendship and help, then she was going to distance herself from the case as much as she could without compromising her job. It hurt her to see him act this way toward her, and it worried her to see him act this way at all. The pregnancy hormones certainly weren't helping with that.

"Thank you." With a snotty tone in his voice, Reid passed JJ. He reached the door, as they were seated at the table just inside of, but felt a pang a guilt, although he didn't know why. This prompted him to have a change of heart, though the sentiment was partially false, since he couldn't understand his own emotions at the moment. "Are you sure? I can sit with you while you eat."

"No, no. I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself." Never in her life did she think the only thing she'd want was for Reid to be as far away from her as possible. She knew he wouldn't hurt her, but she wasn't a yo-yo. She couldn't hang on this breakable thread and be bounced around.

She watched Reid out the window as he walked with a certain stride she'd not seen in him. It wasn't confidence, although that would have been a change, but more like he was on fire, flaming over something he couldn't control and nothing she could put her finger on. He rounded a corner, and she was sure in a town this small, that she would catch up with him later.

He couldn't care less. He wasn't thinking about her. He was thinking about the case, his friend and everything but the poor pregnant lady who he had just frightened; a longtime best friend, who was only there to help him. Eventually, what he had done and the way he had acted would catch up to his brain, but it wasn't going to be for awhile, and that was perfectly fine by him.

Behind some tree lined sidewalks and a few road signs lay the fire station. Reid walked in, surprisingly carrying some authority, which was rare for him. He walked right past the fire fighters, against their protests, or at least that's how things went in his head. For once, he wanted to be that guy, the heroic one like in a movie that took no prisoners and had no fears; that walked right up to a person and accused them of things of which they knew they were guilty of and didn't feel bad.

And then he remembered who he was and what Chief Cauruthers had told him about approaching Fire Chief Hollis and bummed himself out a little. The truth was, he'd never be that guy. He'd never be someone's knight in shining armor. He'd try, but it wasn't inside of him. He'd always lose out to Morgan or the next guy with some game who came along, and he'd forever be in the background. Sometimes, he wished he had more guts or a different life; that he had an edge, just like every other guy he had met, but he had nothing. He would admit that to no one but himself, because it scarred him, and he didn't want to share that with his peers.

He lifted his head up, as not to show fear. Dominate people like firefighters and other law enforcement agents could smell it from a mile away. Funny that he had done fine with Police Chief Cauruthers, a little too fine, in fact, as JJ had to drag him away to calm himself down. Now, without her, he found he wasn't so brave. It was as if her being near him allowed him to be bad cop, knowing she would be good. Now he was just a shy cop. He was glad he didn't have to work this case alone and suddenly realized sooner than normally possible that the way he had treated JJ was unacceptable. But unless he didn't want to solve the case, he had to push that out of his mind.

With the fire station just feet away, he approached the first person to saw. Clearing his throat, as not to frighten him from washing the fire truck, his eyes to the ground, Reid prepared to go-it alone. It was never his favorite thing to do, and he hated his insecurities. He tried to remember that he was doing this for Melinda, the one girl, that, for some reason, seemed to erase them all away. Maybe it was because she'd always be more broken than him by social standards, yet she had a spirit that couldn't even be bent. It gave him some kind of hope that he was still trying to figure out in his mind.

"I'm looking for Fire Chief Hollis." Normally, he would add his title, introducing himself fully, and his position and his job. In the back of his mind, he kept hearing Police Chief Cauruthers' words telling him to go in easy, and decided to forgo formalities, as not to tip the fire chief off before having a chance to speak with him.

"He's in his office, straight through the back of the station, past the trucks." Without barely looking up at him, the young man passively answered him. Had he known he was an outsider, he may not have done the same. It worked in Reid's favor that he was too into his job to care.

Reid walked quickly and with purpose. Having felt like he had ample permission to interrupt the chief's work, Reid didn't bother to knock. Instead, he simply opened the door, barging in. In retrospect, this approach could be seen as aggressive and was probably not a benefit to his cause.

"Fire Chief Hollis, I'm Doctor Spencer Reid from the FBI." Although his tone of voice was nice, the fire chief stared at him like he wanted him as far from his office as possible. He was non too pleased that this boy seemingly had no manners.

"And?" Raising one eyebrow, the sarcasm dripping from his voice, he did everything to get Reid out of his office as quickly as possible. He had work to do and didn't want bothered by useless crap, FBI or no FBI.

"I'm here to talk to you about Melinda Jolene." Showing the chief he wasn't going anywhere, he shut the door behind him, but didn't bother to sit down. He needed to at least seem somewhat imposing, even though he hardly felt that way.

"Who?" The anger he had earlier, the one he carried from last night, when it seemed that everyone just wanted Melinda to be a thing of the past and no one cared about her, was returning quickly.

"The girl whose bar burned down a little over a month ago." He was nearly fuming inside, and it was soon to come out. It seemed like he was a little short tempered these days, but for good reason. He had tried to hide it from the team, but had done a poor job. He knew that was part of the reason that they were so eager to have him talk to Melinda, hoping it would knock the crabby right out of him.

"Don't know who you're talking about. That wasn't even her bar." By now, the fire chief had gone back to filling out the paperwork that was on his desk, completely and blatantly dismissing Reid and wanting him to know it. He was challenging him, thinking he didn't have the guts to hold his ground if push came to shove, and for good reason. Fire Chief Hollis was a bit of a physically imposing man, despite being a bit older.

"Jolene left it to her, which would legally make it her bar. I'm here to see the original copy of the official report you wrote up about the fire." Reid had a feeling the doctored report wasn't the original one written out. When in the line of duty, one often takes notes, fills out the reports to the best of their ability in the moment, and then fixes them later.

The report the police had probably wasn't the only report he wrote out. The original copy had to be filed away somewhere only Fire Chief Hollis would know where to find it. It was clear he was a controlling man, and someone like him would be unlikely to shred the original report. If he had, it was officially gone and he would have lost control over it. He would have wanted to keep it somewhere for his own reasons, most likely personal ones considering the size of the town and relationships of the folks that lived in it. His personality dictated that he had to. It also didn't help that there was so much junk in his office that it was fortunate he could find his way to the desk. Pack rats rarely threw anything out, but often knew where everything was. The garbage was also empty, crumbled up papers all over the floor. It was a good sign that he'd find what he wanted if he just pushed.

"Your request is denied." That sentence in itself was telling, allowing Reid to know his initial profiling was correct. Sometimes people were so predictable.

"It wasn't a request, and it doesn't exactly work like that. I can get a warrant, if you'd like, but I'd rather make things easy on the both of us and talk about this man to man, public servant to public servant." In an attempt to show he wasn't playing a game, he pulled out his cell phone, fully prepared to call Police Chief Cauruthers knowing he would serve the warrant, but also hating to put him in that position.

"When you find a man, let me know. I'd be glad to tell him the same thing I'm telling you." If this was five years ago, those fateful five years ago, Reid would have put his head down and been embarrassed, or simply walked away. Thank goodness this wasn't five years ago.

"Sir, I really don't think that kind of attitude is necessary. I'm just trying to find out what happened here." Trying to appeal to the all work side of him, Reid attempted to not let his emotions get the best of him and handle this with the most amount of professionalism as possible.

"Her bar burned down. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out." Phone still in hand, Reid crossed his arms, almost smacking himself with his bag in the process.

"Actually, it does, because I am one and I'm also a profiler. Your attitude and body language tell me you're hiding something. You can allow me to see the report, or go back to the scene of the fire with me and explain step by step what you believe happened. It's your choice, but you're going to have to do one or the other or I'll take the legal steps I need to in order to keep you from being able to further hinder an FBI investigation." If this man was able to lie, he would have done so by now. He would have told Reid there was no other fire report, but instead he never denied it. Taking him back to the scene of the fire would inadvertently walk him through what happened that night just by being in the atmosphere of it. His subconscious would betray him when Reid started questioning him.

"Whoa. We don't need to have a problem here, Kid." The disrespect rang through is voice, only he didn't smirk like Reid expected he would do. Although upset with his wording, Reid knew he was cracking.

"I'm not a kid. You can call me Dr. Reid." Speaking just as quickly and as idignitaintly as he had with JJ, Reid put his foot down, letting him know he would not be addressed with such blatant disrespect.

"Dr. Reid, with all due respect, there's nothing for the FBI to investigate. This was nothing but a simple accident." His hand shook at his last few words, another way his body language gave him away. No wonder Police Chief Cauruthers had suspected him of lying in the report.

"Call me skeptical, but I highly doubt that. Give me the original of the report or I will be forced to call my superior." Uncrossing his arms, Reid began to scroll through is phone this time, looking for Hotch's number. He had him on speed dial, but he was just trying to get the fire chief all riled up.

"Fine, if you want to know the truth, that girl set the bar on fire herself. She was hoping for some insurance money, but I guess it must have gone wrong, because she died in that fire." This time, a raised voice, almost a bark, exited the fire chief's mouth. He was getting emotional over this, and Reid knew he was cracking. He knew to push harder.

"No, she didn't." Staying as calm as he could, without losing the sternness in his voice, Reid poked at the issue, tearing apart a sore spot for the chief.

"What do you mean?" Trying to play coy was less than appealing on a man who was already shaking, visibly more out of being upset than angry. Police Chief Cauruthers was right, if he was hiding something, he had a good reason to be. And boy was he hiding something.

"She didn't die. I spoke with her after the fire. She's still alive." Putting his phone away, Reid used the extra hand to lay heavily onto the desk in front of him, driving his point forward with equally impaling actions that he hoped would make the fire chief think twice before he lied to him again.

"She can't be. That's not possible." Fear was the emotion of choice now. If he wasn't so surprised, so upset, Reid would have suspected the fire chief himself.

"Why? Why is that not possible?" Now both of Reid's palms were flat on the desk, his body leaning over it and toward the fire chief. He looked him straight in the eye, not backing down. Finally, the flood gates opened and something went right for him today.

"Because the place exploded. With the amount of kerosene I found doused all over the scene, once that place was lit, it would have exploded nearly immediately. She couldn't have gotten out. There wouldn't have been time." Breathing heavily, a knot in his stomach, Reid tried his best to calm himself, to get out what he needed to get out, to find answers for a friend.

"So it was arson." This was a statement, not a question. It couldn't be interpreted any other way; Reid left no room for it. As soon as the fire chief answered him, though, he got a dose of his own medicine, jumping back and visibly shaken.

"Of course it was arson! A building doesn't just explode like that because someone's appliances malfunctioned. The girl had all electric appliances. Even if she would have left a towel on the stove, the fire would have spread slowly, because the cement floor and metal appliances. Most likely, the sprinkler system would have doused the fire. It needed an accelerant to go up that quickly." The condescending tone didn't mask the anger, the yelling. Reid's heartbeat didn't slow down knowing the truth, only left him more fearful that he was wrong about Melinda being alive. "You're going to arrest me, aren't you?"

Taking a deep breath and realizing what had just been said, the fire chief resigned himself to the fact that this was the end of his career and possibly his free life for awhile. Only a man on the edge, one with a secret too heavy to bear, would crack with that sort of encumbrance, like it was a burden to keep it inside and freeing to let it go. Reid recognized that and went in as a friend now, not a foe, playing off of the situation and what the fire chief was giving him.

"Not if you work with me. If you answer all of my questions, cooperate, and replace the false report with the real one, I won't." It was now that Reid took a seat, having no reason to be imposing, but only wanting to be a friend now. He was switching tactics for ultimate gain of knowledge.

"You're a strange kid. First you come in here on your high horse, threatening superiors and legal action against me, and now that I admitted I falsified the report and gave you all you needed to arrest me, you suddenly don't want to anymore?" Not trying to look a gift horse in the mouth, Fire Chief Hollis was still unable to adjust to the sudden switch in attitude. He suspected Reid had an angle, and he wanted to know it. The unfortunate part of not being a profiler, but being profiled, is that if you had to ask, you couldn't figure it out for yourself, leaving the profiler one step ahead.

"Again, I'm not a kid, and it's Dr. Reid. And although this is an FBI case, Melinda is my friend. I just want to find out what happened to her. I want to make sure she is safe and not on the streets again. If you help me, I'll help you. Why did you falsify that report?" Reid's breathing evened out and he talked in his normal tone, trying to get a conversation flowing. He was done accusing, he just wanted the truth.

"Because I didn't see any harm in it. The girl was already dead, or so I thought, and the place destroyed. The damage was done. We've had not one violent crime here, Dr. Reid. Just a bunch of kids swiping candy and soda from the local stores. The people in this town aren't killers. It...it was an isolated incident." There was still an edge to the fire chief's voice. He still had something bundled up inside of him that he just couldn't let go of, although he was trying hard to act as if it were otherwise.

"I believe someone wanted to be a killer, and I promise you someone will pay. But what I need to know is why you think someone in this town did it?" It was all in the way things were worded, which Reid caught as a fault in the man who sat across from him pretty much from point one.

"Because Melinda couldn't even drive. She didn't go out of town. No one else knew her and no one else would come through here and destroy her bar for shits and giggles." Although still extremely defensive, Reid was glad. In trying to keep his defenses up, his brain was so focused on that, that it wasn't filtering the truth. The fire chief wasn't catching his own wording.

"Why do you assume this was about Melinda? She kept a lot of money in her bar. She never used a bank. That couldn't have been too hard to find out. Besides, bars are robbed all the time, because they usually have a fair amount of cash on hand. Wouldn't it have been just as easy to assume that it was a robbery gone wrong and the perpetrator covered their tracks?" Playing into his hand with his own spike of the attitude, Reid challenged him just a little again, hoping to get more before he was shut down on all together. He knew with someone this emotional that it was coming and soon.

"Dr. Reid, somebody planned this fire. You can't just buy that much kerosene at one place, and certainly not unnoticed." Nodding, Reid understood that no one would decide to rob a place with the plan to burn it down after. No one would go to that much trouble, because there were too many other ways in a bar and restaurant to start a fire without going out of their way to buy that much kerosene. This was personal.

"I'll get our tech on tracing large amounts of kerosene that were bought anywhere in the county, then." Letting the fire chief know he was going to follow up was crucial to Reid. He watched for a reaction, but there was no fear there, no worry. Unsure why, Reid decided to continue the questioning, in hopes of figuring it out. "Why do you want to cover up for a potential killer? Why would you do that?

"Because these people are my friends." Staring Reid down, Reid concluded this may have been the only fully honest thing he had been told inside of these four walls.

"And it looks like one of them tried to kill my friend. Do you see where I stand on this?" Not backing down and wanting the fire chief to be completely sure of that, Reid tried to reason with him, to get him to understand just where it was he was coming from and why this was personal to him, too. Hopefully, they could connect on a more personal level because of it.

"Yes. Do you see where I stand?" Instead, he got challenged again. He was starting to feel like they were two bulls butting horns, one physically more opposing and one mentally, getting them nowhere in the end.

"Actually, I don't. Do you know who did this?" He asked softly at first, but his voice was on edge. When he got no answer in seconds, Reid stood up, yelling just as he had earlier, when it had seemed to work. "Do you know who did this?"

"Sorry to interrupt." At that very moment, the crucial one when information could be passed on or lost, JJ walked in the room. She immediately wished she would have caught herself before speaking, as she was startled by Reid far too many times in the diner to be comfortable being shut in a room with him.

"You're not interrupting anything. We're done here for today, but we'll be back tomorrow. Don't go too far or I will arrest you." Reid's eyes fell on the look on JJ's face, and he made sure not to take his own issues out on her again. Gently, he spoke to her, acknowledging her, and then turned to the fire chief, putting his hand harshly down on his desk to make himself clear.

Turning, Reid laid his hand on JJ's back and carefully ushered her out of the office. She was all too glad to oblige, wanting to know what was going on, yet afraid of sparking some other off-kilter reaction in Reid again. She was on this case, too, though, and as soon as they were out of earshot from the station, heading down the sidewalk and back the way they came, she took a few steps away from him and decided it time to speak.

"What was that all about? Did you find out anything?" She couldn't have imagined he would be persistent if he hadn't found out something, yet she couldn't believe he'd be that angry if he hadn't. Of course, until today, she didn't believe he could have outbursts like this either, but he was getting close to earning a medal for them.

"He falsified the report. There was kerosene found at the scene and apparently a large amount, enough that it would have raised a red flag had someone tried to buy it all at one time, so they would have had to get it from different sources. That tells us it was premeditated and about Melinda, not the bar or the money inside of it. The fire chief himself told me that someone in town did it. I think he knows who, but he's not giving it up. We reached an understanding that I wouldn't arrest him for falsifying the report if he'd cooperate. We'll be back tomorrow to give him one more chance to tell us who, and if he doesn't, I'll have him arrested." When they went back tomorrow, Reid already had all intentions of taking Police Chief Cauruthers. Again, this wasn't a position he wanted to put him in, but he'd do what he had to do to get this case solved, closed, and hopefully get him closer to his friend. The law was the law.

"None of this makes any sense." JJ couldn't comprehend how a girl who was so sweet and giving could be targeted so violently. Sure, she'd never met Melinda, but if she was tugging at Reid's heartstrings like she so obviously was, she had to be pretty special.

"Actually, some of it does. You know how when we were at the scene last night I was looking for something, but didn't know what? I was smelling something strange and I don't think it registered with me right away. The place was all ashes and had been burned down, it was normal for it to smell rancid. I think what I was smelling was the kerosene, but I just didn't know it yet. Subconsciously, I think I was looking for traces of what I was smelling within the wreckage." As things often did after the fact, the puzzle pieces started to come together. Last night he had searched the ground, just looking out and cursing the moonlight internally for not allowing him to see better. Now he knew he was looking for the source of the unfitting smell.

"So this was deliberate? Someone was trying to kill her?" Disbelief blanketed JJ's face. She didn't miss this kind of violence working for the Pentagon. Then again, she didn't miss the politics working with Reid.

"But they failed. I have to keep telling myself that. And I'm going to call and tell Police Chief Cauruthers that, too." Never socially finding his stride with JJ again, or making the effort, Reid pulled out his phone in front of her, dialing the number to the police station. He was onto something, and he didn't have time for friend formalities.

Although the pair were nearing the station where their car was parked, and where they still had to plan out the rest of the day to best suit the case, Reid made a judgement call. The faster he could get the information out there, the faster they could hopefully track down Melinda. Every second counted for a girl like her, one who could be on the streets, hungry and trying to readjust to everything around her. Although Melinda was strong and resilient, there was an emotional toll the kind of tragedy she had experienced in her life brought on. To go from being on the streets to finding everything you've ever wanted in a friend only to lose it, your stability, and end up back on the streets again, could cause a whole slew of problems that Reid simply didn't feel she was equipped to deal that. Her time may already be up, and he very well knew it.


	9. Chapter 9

_ Thank you to everyone who reads, reviews, and adds this story to their favorites and alerts. You all own my heart! I am so sorry this chapter took so long to post. I actually had it done two days after I posted the last one, but then got mildly obsessive over Dolls of the Night and there went my focus on anything else. ADHD for the fail._

_Anonymous – Thanks for the review! I appreciate that you took the time to do that even though you don't have an account on the site. You are simply awesome. I see where you're going with that whole "new team member" thing, and I am right there with you. What is up with Reid being uncharacteristic of himself around her? It irks me, which is why when I decided to add JJ to this story. I wanted to make sure he could have a little crush but still act like himself, and JJ is a big part of balancing that out. I am working really hard on getting their relationship right and keeping that balance, so your review is very encouraging and well appreciated! _

_Sue1313 – Thank you for the review! I am so glad you're enjoying it, and thank you so much for reading!_

_danicalif80 – Thanks for the review! I literally just pictured Reid as a knight in polyester armor. I am telling you, you are the funniest thing since very large men have found ways to fall haphazardly time and time again and on reality shows. _

**Chapter 9 **

**The Nightmare of Kimberly Morgan**

It seemed to JJ that as quickly Reid's phone call had started, it was over. She stayed a few paces behind him, where she felt she belonged currently. Even still, she heard him say hello, give no time for Police Chief Cauruthers to answer back, and spouted off the basics of what he had told her; that the report was false and it was arson. Whatever happened after his mouth had stopped, she wasn't sure, but it was seconds later when he hung up the phone. He stopped just long enough, possibly out of shock, to holster his phone, at which time she caught up with him.

"That was fast. What did Police Chief Cauruthers have to say?" As soon as she was by his side, Reid started walking again. He instantly started walking quickly; too quickly for JJ. She struggled to keep up with him, doing the much chagrinned waddling motion she had been accused of. She felt like a penguin, and it wasn't her day.

"He was just getting ready to call me. He needs us to come into the station immediately." He was a man on a mission, with not a plan. JJ didn't know what suddenly lit such a fire under his butt, but he was slightly terrifying, the stance he took and the way he held himself becoming somewhat intimidating. It wasn't a good look for such a slender man.

She didn't even know who he was anymore, because if you would have told a year ago that she would find herself intimidated by Reid, she would have laughed herself into a coughing fit. It just wasn't him. He was the sweetest soul, and he had his moments, everyone did, but he never showed this kind of pure strength and anger. Something was setting him off, and she wasn't convinced it was just this case.

"Is everything okay?" She was forced to call after him, having fallen several paces behind as he took the steps to the station two at time.

It must be nice to have long legs and not feel like the distant third cousin twice removed of a penguin. He was the skinniest man in the world and needed to eat more, and she barely thought he understood just what it was like to carry a few extra pounds, even if it was from another person growing inside of you. She was lucky she could take the stairs one at time in her state without needing a nap. She was tempted to take the steps under her rear end and just wait for him there, but she pushed on.

"I don't know." In another very un-Reid like move, he opened the door, didn't look back at her, and went straight into the station. Normally, although Reid was never socially aware, he would have still taken care of her. It was part of him. It said a lot that he never even bothered to help her up the stairs. His mind was elsewhere for more reasons than she could comprehend.

By the time JJ made it up the stairs, into the station, and back to Police Chief Cauruthers' office where she knew he and Reid would be, the door had already been shut. Not only that, but when she tried to open it, she had been locked out. She knocked, frustrated. Reid knew she was behind him. What was his problem? Since when had Reid ever been this self absorbed? It took a few seconds, but finally the door flung open, him on the other side of it.

"Thanks for waiting for me and not forgetting about me. That was good of you." The last thing she wanted to do was give Reid attitude and a chance to snap, but she had just about had it with his behavior, and it was harder to hide with her pregnancy hormones in full swing. She took a seat next to Reid, resisting a further argument for the time being.

"Sorry. You were walking too slow, and every second counts when someone is missing. You know that." Again, taking no responsibility for himself or seeing anyone else's side of things, Reid shot his mouth off at her. He was short and didn't raise his voice, but she still didn't appreciate it. She didn't know what to make of his startling behavior. By the look on his face, neither did the police chief, and she sincerely did not want a repeat of this morning.

"Reid, I'm pregnant. I can't walk faster, and I could have used some help up those stairs." Feeling her own blood boiling inside of her pregnant body, her hormones wanting to allow her to lash out at him and justify it, she stopped herself. It just simply would never be who she was. "You know what, you're right. Let's just talk about what brings us back here."

"I waited for you, and as I was just waiting to tell the both of you, I've heard back from the Chief of Police in Vail about our ABP." It was clear to JJ that the police chief was trying to douse the flames in the room by letting her know he had waited for her. He didn't know what to make of Reid either at the moment, but he was silently siding with the ever so pregnant lady who had been nothing but kind to him.

"And?" Reid's hands came up, moving in a circular motion, as if he were trying to pull the information out of the police chief. He couldn't find out why he was called in here fast enough and hated that he had to wait for JJ to hear the news. Waiting any longer was unacceptable.

"They've positively identified Melinda." There was a reason that Police Chief Cauruthers was holding back being forthcoming with the information. JJ caught it, but Reid didn't, his relief being a bit premature, opening up a doorway for him to be let down later.

"That's good. We now know it was definitely her I talked to. She was alive and breathing. She survived the fire." When there was no change in facial expression, and Police Chief Cauruthers' face stayed rigid, mixed with JJ not seeming to share the same sentiment that Reid had, he finally caught on. "What? That is good, isn't it?"

"Yes and no." Police Chief Cauruthers turned from the pair, pulling some papers off of the filing cabinet behind his desk. He then laid them face down in front of him. From her years as the team liaison, JJ knew this was bad.

"Is she still alive?" JJ had expected Reid's voice to come across as frustrated and uncooperative, desperate even. Instead, his breath hitched in his throat, and he barely got it out at a whisper. He, too, was finding the severity of the situation too much to handle.

JJ reached over, placing her hand in his. At first he pulled away, convinced she was going to shove it on her stomach to get back at him for walking away from her so fast and leaving her outside of the station alone, but he soon realized her touch was too gentle. She wasn't going to do that. She just wanted to soothe her friend and prepare him for what they were going to hear next.

"They don't know. As far as we know, she could be out there and completely fine, but that wasn't the case when they had last seen her." You could hear both JJ and Reid breathe out. JJ was still taking deep breathes, trying to calm her baby down. It was like since she knew that something was wrong, and even if just by her own tension alone, her baby did, too. She hadn't wanted to expose her newborn-to-be to this so early in life, but it looked like the universe had other plans.

"What do you mean 'that wasn't he case when they had last seen her?' When did they last see her? What was wrong with her? Where did she go?" Just like that, Reid was amped up again, talking quickly, aggressively, almost begging for information.

JJ had also never seen him quite this frightened. Reid was nosy by nature. His genius dictated to him that he was allowed to look at anything at anytime, because he knew more than most others. He hadn't even reached for the papers that were lying on the desk just a foot and a half away, not once. She didn't know if she wanted to be aware of the emotions going through his body that would cause him to skip doing that, but the feeling coming from his hand was electric, but more like a fence, not a feeling. He was trembling a little and trying hard to cover it up.

"They don't know." Stopping to take his own deep breath, Police Chief Cauruthers lifted up a corner of one of the papers he had placed on his desk before speaking again. "Dr. Reid, I have to warn you that what I'm about to tell you is going to be incredibly difficult to hear for someone who is a friend to her. It was difficult for me to hear, and I didn't know her all that well. I would prefer if you would take a moment to prepare yourself for what I have to say."

"I'm in the FBI. I deal with some of the sickest minds in the country. I think I can handle this." Mentally, Reid brought himself back to a place where he could puff himself out and hide behind his intellect, always knowing more than everyone else and overly confident, even if it wasn't who he really was. It was who he had to be to get through everything going on in his life right now.

"All right, but I had to warn you anyway. It wouldn't be right if I didn't. An off duty police officer picked Melinda up about ten miles outside of Vail in an unmarked car the morning after the fire. She stood out to him because...Dr. Reid, this isn't going to be easy to hear." Reid shook his head violently, not wanting to hear anymore of what was trying to be sold to him. With his guard up, he built fences that would late structure walls around the awful truth.

"She would have never gotten into a car with a police officer. It couldn't have been her." He knew whatever Police Chief Cauruthers had to say was going to crush him, so he made the decision to not believe him. He had a logical reason to back it up, but something in his gut told him she did get in that car.

"She's been positively identified, Dr. Reid. The police officer was on his way home from his shift at the Vail PD. There had been a car accident the night of his shift, and his uniform was heavily soiled, so he was wearing civilian clothing and driving his own car when he picked her up. He said he didn't identify himself as a police officer until he turned her over to the emergency room at the hospital. She accepted his ride, and then got in the back of the car and didn't say anything, so he didn't say anything back. He could tell that something horrific had happened to her and was afraid she would become frightened or run if he identified himself as law enforcement, being as he didn't know the circumstances surrounding her current state, so he made a judgement call. He gave his name and number to pass along to you in the event that you would want to talk to him." Without being asked for it, the phone number was handed to Reid.

He looked at it and considered making the call, but ultimately decided to hear the police chief out first. He was beginning to see that he could fully trust him, and he didn't have the energy to do what he normally did and question everything again, and then when that wasn't enough, question it all over. It was more work than he could handle right now, and he had to focus on questioning the information now being given to him, instead of taking a step backwards. That being said, he set it back down on the desk and stared at it for a few seconds. When he finally diverted his attention from it, JJ picked it up, stuffing it into her pocket to make sure that it wasn't left behind, because knowing Reid, he'd want it later.

"Why would he not identify himself? Cops always identify themselves, especially to get someone to trust them and get into their car with them. And why did she need to go to the emergency room? Was she badly burned? You need to be more specific. I can handle it." This, too, was a logical conclusion, however, the look on the police chief's face told him otherwise. He squeezed JJ's hand, maybe just a little too hard.

"Dr. Reid, when he found her walking down the road, she was wearing a white nightgown, no shoes, nothing underneath, and no purse or identification on her. All she had was her cell phone in her hands. It wasn't just that which caught his eye. She was bloody and covered in bruises and cuts. She had been badly beaten. He helped her into the back of his car, where she laid down and rested for the duration of the ride. She didn't say a word to him, and he didn't talk back to her. It was obvious to him that someone had beaten her, and he worried she had been threatened by whomever beat her that if she were to go to the cops, that person would kill her, so he just let her think he was a civilian until he could get her to the hospital, because it was of the utmost importance to get her help. He didn't even know how she was walking or conscious, and when I told the Chief of Police in Vail where she had walked from, he was also shocked. She was taken to a hospital in Vail for treatment." JJ shook her head and had to look away from the police chief. This was the kind of stuff she didn't miss hearing since she was forced out of the BAU, and the kind of stuff she never wanted to hear again. It made it even harder when it hit so close to him by personally affecting her friend.

"Then what? They just let her go? They had her, and she had been victimized. Why didn't they keep her there? Why didn't they ask if they could call someone for her? Why would they just let her go off by herself?" His reaction, the pain and pure upset in his voice, wasn't helping JJ to hold it together like she knew she had to. Maybe she had become soft in being away from the BAU and having more time with her family. Maybe she had forgotten how to hold it together.

"Dr. Reid, please slow down. I promise I'm going to answer all of your questions, but there's more you need to know about what happened to her. I want to be explicitly honest with you, if you can handle it." Everything in his voice said that he didn't want to tell Reid what he had to. It was part of the reason he kept stopping, checking in with Reid and allowing him time to digest what he had been told. They had barely scraped the specifics of this nightmare.

He would have been happy passing the details by, but he knew Reid would find out one way or another, and he promised to help Reid and be up front with him. He also knew any little detail could be the one thing that made Reid's mind click and solve the case. His first priority was Melinda, not Reid's feelings, but he still was kind to them. His job was not to break a federal agent.

"I can handle it. I already told you that. Keep talking." Speaking quickly, Reid brushed him off, wanting only to know as much as he could as quickly as it could be expelled from the police chief's mouth. Fear had already leapt in his throat, making it hard to swallow. He needed some answers.

"They did a rape kit on Melinda. It came back positive for rape, but they were unable to identify who did it. His DNA wasn't in any of the databases. She claimed it was domestic abuse, but wouldn't identify her attacker. The police questioned her, but that's all she would tell them. They were going to call the only contact in her cell phone, which was you, to alert them of the incident, but they couldn't. Since you were male and the only one in her phone, and they had yet to get a clear cut answer as to what happened other than her saying it was domestic, their hands were tied. If you were the attacker, it would only have allowed you to know she had gone to the police, and given the evidence they had, they had reason to suspect you, but couldn't pursue it further without her cooperation, as she said she didn't wish to press charges. She was released from the hospital in twenty four hours, and they took her to a local women's shelter, got her cleaned up and some new clothes. They were waiting until she felt safe, in hopes that she would talk to them and ultimately change her mind about prosecuting the person who had harmed her. She disappeared from the women's shelter the following Tuesday." Without hesitation, Reid reacted.

"That's the day she called me. Did she identify herself at all?" Reid pulled his hands from JJ's and they started moving rapidly. JJ knew this was his way of thinking, of connecting things. There were puzzle pieces falling together for him, as he tried to figure out how the day she disappeared from the shelter, and the day she called him connected. The call was simply her way of letting him know she was on her way to him.

"She said her name was Kimberly Morgan. And to answer your earlier question, she wasn't burned at all, nor were there signs of smoke inhalation. In fact, when I told the Chief of Police that she had been in a fire, he didn't know what to make of it. Whatever happened to her, it doesn't seem like she was present for the fire." This just sent Reid's brain into a further overload, while JJ rushed to question one thing at a time, starting with the first thing that threw her off, not wanting Reid to get too caught up in his head or upset.

"Kimberly Morgan? Are you sure they're positive it was the same girl and not a girl named Kimberly Morgan? That doesn't make any sense." Although JJ knew little about Melinda's past, she still didn't see a reason for giving a seemingly unrelated name. There was usually some obvious attachment, but she wasn't seeing it here and worried that the police chief was selling them false hope. She had to be sure, for her friend.

"It does, actually. She wouldn't have ever given the police her real name, and she couldn't get away with just giving them her first name like she had done with our team. She was sketchy about even talking to us after she saved my life, but she came around when Hotch assured her he had no interest in finding out about her past. She used to be a grifter who escaped foster care, and she wouldn't have taken the risk of them finding out who she really was, even though she's an adult now. She gave them a name she knew would make sense only to me, but that they couldn't trace back to her, because she knew I'd eventually end up looking for her if she didn't make it to me in a reasonable amount of time. Kimberly is the name of her cat. It's technically a stray and won't come into the bar, but she says it follows her down to the river and sits with her all the time. She named it after a singer from her favorite country band. And she and Morgan had a bit of a misunderstanding when they first met. He wouldn't let her call him by his first name at first, and she knew I'd remember that." What Reid was finding was hope in this, along with the pain and anger of what had happened to her. He was more sure now than ever that they had the right person, but he had to be positive. He didn't know if he could take the false hope.

"Sounds like she's gotten deeper and further with you than anyone else." Thinking aloud, JJ said something she shouldn't have. She was just amazed that he had let someone get to know him well enough to know and understand how he would think to identify someone if it ever came to that. With anyone else, the connection may not have clicked, but Melinda seemed to have an understanding of his mind.

"I told you on the plane, I don't want to talk to you about this. Can I see the papers on your desk?" Brushing JJ off, Reid reached for the papers, pointing, but not touching. JJ was surprised by the respect he seemed to be showing the police chief, when he was so unsure of him earlier.

"I'd rather you not. They're pictures of her when she was first admitted into the hospital, and they're incredibly graphic." Even though he knew Reid would still ask for them, if only for identification purposes, which is why he had requested the file on her be faxed over, he still wanted to warn him first. He didn't want anyone else to have to see them. They already made him sick to his stomach.

"I need to see them. I want to be sure it's her." Looking Police Chief Cauruthers in the eyes with no chance of backing down, Reid all but demanded the papers.

Without saying a word, Police Chief Cauruthers handed the papers over to him, still face down. Reid snatched them up, turning them over. From the angle he was holding them at, JJ wasn't able to see a thing, therefore unable to help in the identification from only the pictures she had seen of Melinda earlier. After studying them in a few moments in silence, Reid slammed the papers down on the desk.

"It's her." That quickly, he got out of his chair, leaving the room. It took JJ a few seconds to respond, but when she did, she shot out of her chair, too, intent on chasing him down. That's when she got her first glimpse of the pictures.

"Oh my God." Her hand came up over her mouth, not believing what she was seeing. "I don't... She didn't have any permanent injuries?"

"It's amazing, isn't it? They said she was fine. She didn't have so much as a concussion. She was just heavily cut and bruised. It looked a lot worse than it was." Reaching for the photos, Police Chief Cauruthers turned them back over again and removed them from his desk. He didn't want them anywhere near him. He didn't want to think of Melinda like that. "I'm sorry Dr. Reid had to see that. I tried to warn him."

"It's okay. He had to see them. I'm going to go find him and make sure he's okay. If you'll excuse me." Nearly disoriented, she walked out of the room, stopping as soon as she was outside the door. She looked left, then right, surveying the room for him. She started to walk forward, thinking he had gone outside, when another officer in the bullpen stopped her.

"He went into the bathroom." Thanking him, JJ headed back that way. She was two feet from the door when she heard him before she opened it. She knocked gently first, giving anyone else who may have been in there a chance to yell and stop her from coming in. When she didn't hear anything, she went in.

"Spence, it's just me. I wanted to make sure you were okay." She couldn't see him, as he was inside a stall, but she still knew he was sick. She didn't want to barge in on him, nor did she think she'd fit in the stall with him, so she just waited for a response. It took a few minutes for him to gather himself, but it came.

"I'm fine. Please leave." That's all he got out. JJ obeyed his orders, but still knew something was off. He had never been squeamish before.

Things like this didn't seem to phase him. This was just too out of character for her to now ignore. Even if it was his friend, his tendencies that leaned toward the autistic spectrum kept his mind from processing things this way. Now she knew she couldn't ignore his earlier actions and that she had to do something. Dismissing herself from the bathroom, she decided to go outside to make a phone call, but was stopped by the police chief when she went to pass his office.

"Is he okay?" He had gotten up to see where JJ was headed, curious himself. His head was already poked out of the door and waiting once he figured out what was going on.

"He will be. I'm going to go outside and call our technical analyst and get her started on tracking down large kerosene purchases that were made in the county prior to the fire. If he comes out before I get back, will you tell him where I am?" With an affirmation nod from the police chief, she parted ways with the inside of the building, fully intent on sitting on the bench at the bottom of the stairs, just outside of the station. And when she realized she had to go back up the stairs after going down them, she decided to just sit on the top step and call it a day.

Holding the phone in her hand, she rang Garcia's number. She knew she shouldn't be abusing her this way, especially when she was on location of a Strauss appointed case, but Garcia wanted to help them, and they needed her. She was reminded of this when Garcia picked up the phone after the first ring.

"Wonder Woman for those who chose to believe mediocrity is only a glitch in their hardware. How can I amaze you with my mad skills?" Leave it to Garcia to give a classic greeting that can light up a room on even the darkest of days. Although she was far from in the mood, JJ had to admit that it did make her smile.

"Garcia, Reid and I need your help." She was as concise as she could be, knowing Garcia was hardly going to like her in a few minutes.

"What can I do for you, Sugar? I'm working on something for Hotch, two things, actually. We are so close to catching this icky pervert that I can nearly smell the scent of rotting humanity from here. But you don't want to hear about that. My fingers are ready and in cue for my two favorite young ones as soon as I'm finished." Looking behind her quickly, JJ made sure that Reid was nowhere in site before moving on with the conversation.

"No, Garcia, I need you to do something personal for me, off the grid and off the case, and I need you to make sure that no one else finds out about this, okay?" Quickly, JJ's voice changed. It become more mysterious and lower, her hand coming up over her phone so that even if Reid did come out, he wouldn't have a chance to see what she was talking about, and she'd hopefully hear him open the door and be able to cut herself off before he heard anything.

"JJ, what's wrong?" Suddenly, Garcia's voice changed, too. It went from her normal amount of perk, to the most serious and worried voice she could give. JJ glanced behind her one last time before talking quickly. She didn't know how much time she had.

"I don't know. Something's going on with Reid. He's moody; he yelled at me today. He's been mean. He intimidated a fire chief, if you can believe that. His behavior is erratic and unpredictable, and he's starting to really concern me. He's also not eating a lot, he won't drink coffee, and he was up and down all night in the bathroom, and now he's sick again. Maybe I'm overreacting on that part of things, because this is a tough case and this is his friend. Maybe it's just getting to him, but I need you to do me a favor that you're not going to like doing. It has to be done, though, because I need to know that Reid is okay." Resisting the urge to ask about the case, Garcia focused on what JJ was saying and that only, also worried about her little boy wonder.

"Hit me with it." Normally, Garcia would continue to type and talk, but this time she actually stopped, giving JJ her full attention. This sounded serious and not at all like what she had expected to hear when she spoke to JJ while she on this case.

"I need you to do some digging and find out if he's having any mental or medical problems; if he's been seeing anyone or has been prescribed any medication." For the third time, JJ glanced behind her, and then continued to talk fast. She could never be too sure that Reid wasn't behind her. She didn't want to set him off again.

"JJ, I...I can't do that. He's my friend, and I would feel skeevy digging through his personal life. If he wanted us to know this stuff, he'd tell us." Once, a few years back, Garcia was forced to dig through his life when it concerned finding out if his dad was a killer, but this was different. She couldn't just poke around in Reid's life without a case attached, could she?

"I know, I know, but something is really wrong with him, Garcia. I've tried to ignore it, but I can't anymore. Garcia, he scared me today. He actually scared me." Pulling her last and final card she had, the one that she knew would change Garcia's mind, JJ waited to hear what she needed to.

"Oh my. Okay. This is against my better judgement and all of my moral compasses, but I will do some digging. I can't promise I'll come up with anything. If he's seeing a doctor I should be able to get into his medical records with no problem, but if he's seeing a psychologist or some kind of mental health professional, those files are a little harder to access. A lot of offices don't keep computer files. Hopefully I can find out if he's a patient somewhere, but I can't even promise that. You're going to have to give me some time. I'm swamped as it is." Worked up, Garcia now knew, too, that something was wrong with Reid. Though not as well as JJ knew, it panicked her knowing he was even capable of scaring JJ. She would be up late tonight digging through is records if she was able to with the case at hand and if that's what it took.

"Garcia, it's okay. I understand. Take your time, just not too much time. Okay?" Not wanting to put more pressure on an already worked up Garcia than she already had, JJ took a step back to let Garcia know she, too, could breathe.

"Okay. I will do my best." Although Garcia couldn't see her, she nodded in response anyway. She then looked behind her a fourth time and was relieved to see no Reid, yet worried that he was still sick.

"I know you will. And I know this is asking a lot, but I have one more thing to request from you. It's case related. I need you to track all sales of kerosene made in the county in the days proceeding the bar fire. From what I understand, there was a large amount of kerosene used, too much to be bought at one place without raising a red flag. See if you can find out who purchased kerosene from more than one place. Hopefully they left a paper trail." While she had her on the phone, JJ decided she would just make the request for Reid, since he seemingly had enough to deal with. That also covered her when Reid found out about her call to Garcia. This way, she had a legitimate reason for calling and didn't have to lie to Reid.

"That I can do, no problem. If that's all you need, I really have to go, my lovely. Hotch is calling, literally." With one last thing before she went, JJ spoke quick to keep Garcia from hanging up on her like she sometimes did when in a rush.

"That's all I need." Pausing, looking behind her for a potential Reid, JJ then spoke. "Garcia?"

"Yes?" In rushing her answer, she was subliminally rushing JJ. She didn't want to have to explain JJ's requests to Hotch since she knew technically she wasn't to be helping Reid and JJ, although she knew Hotch wouldn't mind it. It was Strauss she didn't want anyone to have to answer to. She was frightening.

"Please keep this between us, okay?" She barely got the okay out when Garcia responded.

"You got it." Just that quickly the line went dead. Sighing, JJ looked behind her one last time, but still saw no Reid. She began to get up when she realized there was one other thing she could do for him.

Pulling the crinkled up paper out of her pocket, she made a phone call to the police officer who had picked up Melinda. Although Reid had identified the girl as Melinda, she knew he'd eventually want to call the officer and follow up, because that's what he did. He had to be double sure of everything, so she did it for him, running over the story one more time and finding that it matched Police Chief Cauruthers' to a tee. She was just about to hang up when she heard the door open behind her and turned to find a fairly pale Reid standing there. She finished up her phone call, and then put her phone away, letting him know he had her full attention.

"Hey, Spence. Are you okay?" It was clear to her that he wasn't, though she doubted he'd admit it.

"I'm fine. I'm sorry you had to hear me do that." His eyes told her that he wasn't fine, and that he was suffering just standing there, feeling weak and exhausted. Whatever had left his system must have taken his attitude with it. Either that or he was now just too tired to fight.

"Don't worry about it. I did it enough for two people in the beginning of my pregnancy, not to mention I have Henry, and boys will be boys." Looking around, Reid gave a small nod, feeling awkward, the thought of being sick making him feel sick again. He tried to quickly change the subject.

"Police Chief Cauruthers told me you came out here to call Garcia?" At first, JJ panicked a little. She had betrayed him on the phone, and he was a genius profiler. What if she tried to tell him that she only called about the kerosene, and he knew better? She took a few deep breathes and tried to steady her voice. She had lied to him about bigger things before for her own well being, and the well being of the BAU.

"I wanted to get her started on tracking down kerosene purchases in the county. I also talked to the police officer who picked up Melinda. He told me the exact same story." He looked at her funny at first, and she had to look away from him, which was never a good sign to a profiler. Finally, he gave in, seeing no reason why JJ would lie to him.

"Oh. Thanks." If anything, Reid felt as if he had put her up to doing too much. He should have had to shoulder that responsibility, not her. In retrospect, it was better that he had not called the officer himself. It could have made him sick all over again.

"Try not to sound so excited that we're getting closer to finding your friend." If a facial expression could take on a life of it's own, becoming sarcastic and unimpressed, it's what Reid's had just done in less than a second. "Okay, it's not the time to joke. I get it. I know you're not feeling well, but do you think you can help me up? At first I felt like a penguin, but now feel like the beached whale that ate that penguin."

"You're not a beached whale, JJ. You're beautiful." Reaching down, Reid lent her his hand. She appreciated the help, but was sure to go easy on him, because he was a beanstalk as it was, and she was sure she far outweighed him with her pregnancy. The last thing she needed was to pull a sick person down the stairs. Once at eye level, she looked right at him, smiling. "What?"

"That's the Spence I know. I was beginning to wonder where he went. Come on, let's go inside and get you some water and a seat. You're not looking too good right now." Her goal was not to get him back inside around those pictures, but to instead let Police Chief Cauruthers know they were heading back to the bed and breakfast for the remainder of the day. As far as she could tell, they had done all they could today, and Reid's health was much more important. She just wanted to wrap things up first.

"Thanks. I tell you that you're beautiful, and I get a 'you're not looking too good right now.' That's...comforting." Smirking at him, JJ grabbed onto his arm. She did it in a way that allowed him to think she needed the support with being pregnant, but in truth, she was trying to support him, afraid his frail looking body wasn't going to make it the whole way to the back of the police station without help.

And that's when she realized it, just how frail her friend was. In the frenzy of everything going on around them, she had barely taken the time to notice how his clothes were sagging on him. Maybe it was just her, as she hadn't seen him in awhile and no one else had mentioned it to her, but maybe it was also good she was here, because if it had happened gradually and no one had noticed, that still didn't mean nothing was wrong.

"Oh, Spence, just come on." The walk to the back of the police station was slow, mostly due to Reid, but JJ still allowed him to think it was her. When they made it to the police chief's office, the first thing JJ made sure he did was sit down before she launched her plan for the rest of the day.

"Police Chief Cauruthers, we wanted to thank you for keeping us up to date on the situation and for your immense cooperation. If there's nothing else, we're going to head back to the bed and breakfast. I need to lie down." Her eyes drifted toward Reid in a way that was only obvious to the person looking directly at her, letting the police chief know her concern for her friend. She wanted him to know that she didn't want Reid to know she wanted him to lie down.

"No. We have to stay here and work the case. If you need to go lie down, I'll take you to the bed and breakfast and then come back. There's so many questions that have been left unanswered. Who would do this to her? If she wasn't in the fire, what happened? Did someone beat her and leave her for dead, and then burn down the bar to make people think she died in the fire? If she wasn't in the bar during the fire, therefore not being present in her apartment, why was she wearing a nightgown?" Getting himself worked up again was exactly what JJ hadn't wanted to see him do. She was afraid that if his stomach was weak, he would get sick all over again. She looked at Police Chief Cauruthers for help.

"I want the answers to those questions just as much as you do, Dr. Reid, but I fear that no one has them but Melinda, and we're doing all we can to find her. There's nothing else we can do but what we're already doing, and that's waiting for information to come in on the controlled APB we sent out. Go back to the bed and breakfast, and I'll call you if and as soon as I hear anything." Reid's expression hadn't changed at just the simple answer, so the police chief went back in with a more complex one, hoping to convince him he wasn't needed here. JJ thanked him with her eyes. "Dr. Reid, you know as well as I do that the only other thing you could do is go around and question the residents of this town about what happened that night and hope someone saw something, but everyone knows the FBI is here, and no one in this town is particularly fond of the feds. You know that from your first trip here, and you were here to catch a serial killer posing danger to the residents, not question people about an incident that happened to someone who people here have treated quite unfairly. They won't change their minds about her now just because she's missing. If you start questioning the residents about her, you're going to be met with resistance, and they're going to think you're on a witch hunt. You could also talk to the wrong person and tip of the, what do you call them? The unsub? There's a lot of places to hide around here, and if the person gets out of town, you may never be able to track them down. That's why I'm trying to keep this as private as I can, even from my own officers. You never know who could be the one to send fear into the town, and once it's out there, it runs rampant. The best thing you can do is not tip anyone here off to your intentions or that you think someone in this town is guilty of a crime. Right now, we don't even know what all this person did and what we can charge them with. It's probably best if you leave town for the day and take the heat off of the residents so no one thinks you're out for blood. "

"That sounds reasonable. Besides, I think Fire Chief Hollis may be the only one who knows who did this. He wouldn't be trying so hard to cover up that this was an arson if there were more people who could accidentally let it slip. We're taking a risk with Fire Chief Hollis knowing we're going to be back to interview him tomorrow." Relieved, JJ reached down to help Reid up this time. He looked as if he was going to need it. With her hands barely in his, Police Chief Cauruthers interrupted them.

"I wanted to talk to you about that. I think it's best if you let me go and talk to him tomorrow by myself." The first time Reid had mentioned going to talk to Fire Chief Hollis on the phone, the police chief immediately knew that wouldn't work, but felt it best to talk to him in person to make him understand where he was coming from on this. There was more than one reason he wanted the pair to come into his office.

"With all due respect, we should be handling that. That's what we're here to do, question people and find out the truth. We want you with us to make him feel more comfortable, but this is technically a federal investigation, so I need to be the one doing the questioning." Reid hadn't yet got up, but stood firm on his stance from the chair. He was getting cranky again, something JJ was hoping he had gotten over, although she did see where he was coming from and felt this an odd request.

"I understand that, but... I feel like I'm betraying Fire Chief Hollis' confidence in telling you this, but you also have the right to know, to understand why I'm requesting to speak with him alone. A few weeks back, his son Brendon committed suicide. If you go back in to question him tomorrow, I fear it's not going to be something he's going to psychologically be able to handle. He's a good, honest man, but his priorities are a little off right now. If I go in as a friend, I'll get more out of him than you will as feds. As they say, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar." Thinking for a moment, JJ watched as Reid's brained seemed to scan over every single word openly that was said between he and Fire Chief Hollis. She was waiting for a backlash, but was surprised and at ease when she got the opposite.

"I guess I'll have to agree with you, hearing the reasoning. Being the one who questioned him and seeing his explosive and emotionally unstable behavior, I'd have to say that it explains a lot from a profiler's point of view. It didn't make sense to me that he was becoming unglued over covering up a bar fire. I understood that he was trying to protect the people of his town, but his emotions seemed more personally based. You will call me as soon as you talk to him, though, and I promised him we wouldn't arrest him if he cooperated. If he doesn't, you have to or I will come into town and do it myself. That will be even worse on his emotional state." In his own way, this was Reid conceding, but he felt as if he still had to have some sort of control over the situation. Reid wasn't one to throw his weight around as a fed, but it seemed like he was doing nothing but. JJ just couldn't shake how odd that was for him and was surprised he was listening to reason.

"I understand, but if I go in as a friend, with him knowing that he has to deal with an arrest and the feds if he doesn't talk to me, I'm confident I'll get the information we need. Whomever questions him has to understand that his son was all he had, and I do. It's been difficult on the whole town. Brendon was a good kid. In fact, he may have been the only one I knew of in this town that was nice to Melinda." Police Chief Cauruthers put his head down for a moment, trying to let severity of the situation pass him by. He couldn't do it for too long, as he had to stay professional. The whole town had lost someone they truly cared for, and it was a damn shame. "Anyway, you two best be going before anyone suspects we're plotting against them. In a town this small, it's bound to happen. I'll call you if I hear anything."

"Thank you." This time, JJ didn't waste any time getting Reid out of the chair. She didn't want anything to be said that could cause him to become defensive or difficult again. Halfway out the door, JJ thought of something, turning for one last question. "Police Chief Cauruthers, do you know where we could pick up a humane trap on our way out of town?"

"I have one in the storage room. We're kind of a multi-faceted operation here. You do a little of everything." JJ moved out of the doorway, where Reid was already passed, allowing the police chief to pass them and lead them to the storage room, a set of keys in hand.

"Why do we need a humane trap?" As the police chief was playing with the key in the door, Reid became very ill looking again upon asking this question.

"For Kimberly. You said Melinda was feeding a stray, and it's probably been hungry since she's gone missing. The least we can do is try to catch her and have her for Melinda when we do find her. She'd probably like that. The cat was probably her friend, especially when no one else seemed to be." Unfortunately, that did everything but put Reid's mind at east.

"I don't...cat's don't like me." As hard as JJ fought to cover up her laughter, Police Chief Cauruthers decided not to bother. He hadn't meant to laugh at Reid, but it just came out. It was more of a giggle than anything else, fortunately, and it was hard to get angry at a grown man who giggled.

"Don't be such a baby. If she had been feeding it, and it's been following her around, the cat probably isn't too feral. If it is, we'll let it go. If it's not, I'll take care of it. You don't even have to touch it's furry little coat." JJ make little claws with her fingers, running them over Reid's arm merely to creep him out. He shivered beneath her fingers and moved away from her, giving her a dirty look.

"Here's the trap and here's some cat food. I've learned over the years that it's cheap and most anything will eat it. If you do catch her, you can get a regular cage to keep her in, some food, litter, and some bowls from the pet store in town." Reaching out and taking the cage in one hand and a small ziplock bag of cat food in the other, JJ could see Reid wasn't going to cooperate in catching this cat, even if it was for his friend.

"Thank you. We'll leave the cage over night and see if we have any luck. Either way, we'll have the cage back to you tomorrow." There was no sense in leaving the cage out for several days hoping to catch the cat. JJ knew it was most likely either long gone, or still came back nightly hoping for some food. One night should be sufficient, and she didn't want to tie up their cage for too long.

"Take your time and try to get some rest. There's nothing for you to worry. I've got it covered and will call you if necessary." With the last of the reassuring words Police Chief Cauruthers had to give, and Reid no longer seeming to be able to argue or fight the fact that they were leaving the station, JJ took that as her cue to make a quick exit.

Intertwining the arm which only carried the cat food with Reid's once again, JJ led him to the car, thankful that he seemed to buying the excuse that she needed to lie down. But with as pale as he was, and now the fact that he was noticeably shaking a little, weakened, she wondered if he was really buying it, or if he was just willing to buy it because that's what he needed to do to get back to the hotel and relax. When JJ had reached this town, she thought the worst thing she had to worry about was the outcome of a case involving a missing girl, how it would affect her friend, and the lack of cooperation from everyone in town. Now, she wondered if she shouldn't have been only worried about Reid.


End file.
